How do we get more people to the polls?

This years federal elections brought in about 61.4 percent of eligible voters to the polls.  While this number may seem low, it is actually a slight upgrade from 2008’s all-time low of 58.8% . Once again this raises the question: How do we get more people to vote? Everyone has a different opinion on how to do it but so far it doesn’t seem like any organization or political party has gotten it quite right.

An organization called Apathy is Boring was put together by a group of independent youths in order to get their peers to vote. They focus on using art and technology to target youth and educate them about politics and the importance of voting. Some of their strategies include hosting concerts, events and “Youth Friendly” workshops to make sure the youth make a well-informed vote. While they have also been featured on the media and have done some significant work, it seems that more needs to be done for youth to become truly engaged.

Apathy is Boring has also featured advertisements on MTV which goes directly to their target. They use a humored approach by having celebrities talk about “Their first time”. Using celebrities to endorse the elections makes many young voters feel like they should vote as well.  This strategy is great because they use mass media to go directly to the people that seem to be staying away from the polls.

Social media has been on the rise for a few years now with websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube being used every day by a large porting of youths. During this election, new strategies have been used such as the NDP’s iPhone application where you could follow their campaign. The NDP also has started to us new QR code technology, which allows people to use their smart phone to interact with a printed page with the use or their smart phones.  

The Conservative Party is the only other party to go a step further like the NDP. They have a website called Torynation.ca, which is a private social network where supporters can do many things to seek out information and help out the campaign. Judging by the way the elections turned out, it seems like the social media route seems to help garner votes to the ones who use the tools at their disposal.

Getting more voters to the polls might just simply be about making people passionate about the issues and the leaders that are representing them. When people feel like they are being ignored or not represented by political leaders, the result is apathy and a low turnout. The two main messages that were presented by the Conservative and NDP were a split between things are fine the way they are and we need a change. One thing is certain, something does need to change and that’s voter turnout and the way that those disengaged people are communicated to.