WHAT MATTERS AT ELECTION TIME?

Voting Matters but deciding how, who, why and what you vote for really matters.

We are all starting to come to grips with the importance of the May Alberta election.  According to polls, it is very difficult to say now if the UCP or the NDP will get re-elected. This elections is going to be political campaigning warfare. As in any war the truth is the first casualty.

The two legacy parties each have over a $1,000,000.00 raised to campaign. We can expect to be inundated with campaign ads on our televisions, radios, computers and stuff in our mailboxes. Our politics are very polarized so expect a nasty campaign now and to get nastier the closer we get to election day.

Be forewarned, political advertising and messaging does not have to be truthful, accurate, or even evidence-based to any degree. All they have to do is have an acknowledgement in the ad about who or which party is sponsoring it.

So expect half-truths, out-of-context attack messages and manipulated emotion-triggering stark images, scary music and questionable copy accuracy. Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by senseless sound-bites, misinformation and disinformation from the combatants in the battle for political power.

BE A BETTER VOTER

That election result is in our hands as citizens.  But is is also in our heads and our heart, as we reflect on what is concerning us and how are we feeling about Alberta and as Albertans. How can we reflect those concerns in the way we vote? The collective "WE" will decide but will the results be conclusive given the regional divisions in Alberta, and the final decision will be determined by a few Calgary constituencies that are in play as possibly turning away from the UCP.

Even so, no vote is ever wasted, when you use it as a way to express yourself. The world is run by those who show up. Showing up to vote is only one small, but consequential way to show up as a citizen. There are so many other and more directly effective ways to show up as a citizen, especially after the election.

BUT VOTE WE MUST - IF YOU VALUE DEMOCRACY

That voting decision making is a very personal activity and fraught with complexity and confusion and it take time and effort to do it well. Making that voting decision is vital and consequential in the aggregate. But it for serious citizens, it should be consequential as well as strive become better citizens. Being a thoughtful voter is part of becoming a better citizen.

However, for others, like dedicated partisans, the voting decision is simple,. Stick with your Tribe because winning is power and getting power for your side is the purpose of elections….for partisans.

For many of us, as the say, "we have issues." By that I mean we will be doing more analysis as we consider our ballot choices based on may factors and perceptions.

Some will be considering HOW to vote which usually means a "strategic vote" where the motivation is to vote against the the party or leaders perceived to be the most dangerous if given power.  Cynics call this the least worse decision process.

Others will vote based on WHO to vote for.  This is mostly determined by personal perceptions of the Leaders.  Given how centralized political power is in parties and caucuses, on the leader, that is an important consideration too.

Some other WHO voters will decide based on the local candidates and their connection to the constituency and local issues.  That is often no more than a decision based on name recognition.  Hardly a sound way to select a lawmaker, but a very common practice by so-called slacktivist citizens.

Then there are the non-voters. There are may reasons given for not voting from disinterest, to arrogance . Many are admittedly ignorant about what is going on in politics. Some feel inadequately informed enough to make a reasonable decision, Others see politics as corrupt and full reprehensible self-serving people. It is something they don’t want to be associated with in any way, including voting.

But regardless of the reasoning to rationalizing, to me they all seem to have one thing in common: Cynicism. Cynicism about politics is a handy device often used, including evading one’s roles and responsibilities of citizenship.

WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF US?

And then there are the rest of us.  We are the WHAT voters.  We are issues-based voters. Sometimes our voting motivation is focused on a single issue, or a group of related policy issues like healthcare, economy, education, or the environment.

We are the more nuanced and complex voters.  We are too difficult for political parties and election platform advisors to connect with in the typical simplistic mass-messaging campaigning methods. However some of us WHAT voters are unwittingly on party lists.  That is because we answered an online survey, gave out email and postal code in order to download something of interest, or were part of some other email harvesting techniques. 

As a result, there are political parties that have information on you and a sense of what is important to us.  Modern technology enables the parties to micro-target us with relevant, and they hope, resonant key messages from their election platforms.  If that is you, expect campaign emails and requests for donations.

Otherwise the WHAT voters are largely overlooked and ignored at election time. And that is because there is some wisdom in the observations made many years ago by former Prime Minister Kim Campbell when she observed that elections are not the time to deal with complex issues. 

She was ridiculed for this comment but time has proven her to be insightful as well as inciteful.  So if we want our issues dealt with, we WHAT voters must do the outreach and bring our issues and concerns to the attention of the parties in the campaign. 

Quite frankly, do not expect to have much impact in changing anything during an election campaign. The platforms are set and the party discipline will not allow any candidate to get off message. You will get a canned campaign response, if you get anything at all.  Don’t be discouraged.

But that inadequate response doesn't mean you should not still be putting your issues and concerns in front of your local candidates. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME CONNECTING WITH THE PARTY OR THE LEADERS AT ELECTION TIME.  CONCENTRATE ON CONNECTING WITH YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES FROM ALL PARTIES.

One of them will be elected and that is when you can reach out again in a more focused, purposeful and effective way.  Yes, the campaigns are all over the place chasing your vote at election time, but they don’t really want to do anything but the minimum required to get your vote.

You can be more effective in getting attention on your issues after the election. Best use the election time to figure out and focus on your issues and concerns. Also, if you find a candidate you feel you can trust and respect, volunteer to help out on their campaign. You can do that as a citizen and don’t have to buy a party membership to help a candidate.. But after the election, because you volunteered and helped out, you will have a shorter line to wait when you want to see your new MLA and talk about your concerns and ideas.

Citizenship Matters is about the post-election outreach not the election the campaigning time. That is when the WHAT voters get to go to work to have impact and influence on the government. As a friend of mine has sardonically observed “no matter who you vote for the government always gets in.”