Local News
Compulsory voting one way to get Albertans to the polls
By DAVE MABELL
Mar 28, 2008, 04:08

Vote — or you’ll pay a fine!
That’s a proven way of getting citizens involved in the political process, a Lethbridge audience learned Thursday.
But it’s just one of many ways Albertans and Canadians could be motivated to get out in election day, says political scientist Harold Jansen. A more responsive political process, like proportional voting systems proposed in other parts of Canada, could also make a difference.
“Alberta always has the lowest turnout in Canada,” he told the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs. Reportedly more than 70 per cent of Saskatchewan voters turned out for their provincial election last fall. Just 41 per cent of the Albertans registered to vote earlier this month actually showed up at polling stations.
“We do have a problem here,” said Jansen, professor at the University of Lethbridge.
Part of the problem, he pointed out, was poor preparation by Elections Alberta officials. Though many thousands of people have moved to the province since the previous election, the government agency didn’t compile at accurate list.
“We need to go back to the process of enumeration.”
Even so, many Albertans opted out of their citizens’ rights. In Fort McMurray, he said, just 21 per cent of the men and women on the voters’ list actually showed up.
That’s why Alberta should consider compulsory voting, Jansen said. In Australia — where it’s been the law since 1921 — there’s consistently about 95 per cent participation. Those who fail to vote, and offer no legitimate excuse when asked, face a fine about the size of a parking ticket.
“There’s a fair amount of support for this,” with no move to drop the law. Jansen said about 20 other nations, including Belgium and Brazil, also enforce compulsory voting.
Since they know they’ll be voting, he suggested more electors pay attention to the issues. And political parties can put more effort into explaining their platforms, rather than concentrating on getting voters motivated and then driving them to the polling place.
Once they show up, Jansen added, voters are still free to refuse their ballot if they’re not prepared to vote for any of the candidates.
Closer to home, he suggested it’s also time to consider proportional representation. Half the nation’s provinces — including British Columbia and Ontario — are already debating that change, and B.C. residents came very close to adopting a proportional plan the last time they went to the polls.
Single transferable ballots and mixed-member assemblies are two of the variations considered, and Jansen said they’ve proven effective in most democratic nations. Some, like Israel and Italy, remain unstable.
“But we have Germany and Sweden as examples of where it’s worked very well.”
In Alberta, Jansen calculated a proportional representation system would have provided a comfortable majority of 44 seats for the Conservatives — who took 52 per cent of that 41 per cent turnout — while also electing 22 Liberals, seven New Democrats, six Wildrose Alliance and four Green Party MLAs, all based on this month’s province-wide results.
With that representation, he said, the legislature would better reflect the interests of all voters. As it is, disgruntled voters can dismiss the Stelmach government’s policies as representing just 22 per cent of the full electorate.
If Alberta’s opposition parties hope to gain power, Jansen said, they’ll have to find ways to collaborate as they have in Saskatchewan, B.C. and other jurisdictions.
“Until that happens, I don’t see a lot of change in our future.”

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