Editor:
With the election building to a crescendo, it’s predictable that messaging has emerged urging people to vote “strategically” – that is, not for someone or something they really favour, but to help defeat a candidate or party.
It’s been around for many election cycles now, but this campaign has seen the production of slick videos and articles urging this. These add up to monkey-wrenching manipulations that may cause negligible shifts in election outcomes, but, in general, they lead to suppressed voter turnout because the messaging infers that “your vote for X” and not “against Y” is a wasted vote. As a result, many people, especially younger voters, stay home and don’t vote at all. A recent Macleans article also highlighted how calls to vote strategically are based on wild, inaccurate speculations for the most part.
I urge people to vote for the candidate or party of your first choice and ignore the siren’s call to vote “strategically.” Get behind the candidate or party you really favour and help give them a final push. That will help strengthen our democracy, not diminish it, like the call to vote “strategically.”
Michael Maser, Gibsons
