Election

Tuesday, October 15

HOW CAN WE MAKE VOTING MORE SOCIAL?

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a voter—or you’re going to be. But that may not be true for your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbours. What can you do, as a citizen, to get more Canadians out to vote next week?

Peer social influence is a powerful force in bringing people to the polls. But is there a way for us to make voting more social, and exert that peer influence on others, while being respectful of individual choices?

There are lots of simple steps, from just talking about your plans to vote, to sharing photos of yourself outside a polling station on social media. You could think bigger, too.

We like the idea of election festivals: fun, open public gatherings on Election Day to celebrate active citizenship. Amazingly, there’s some early evidence to suggest that such gatherings may help increase voter turnout. American researchers experimented by organizing election festivals at some voting precincts—with food, music, activities, and open invitation to community members. They estimate that in those precincts, turnout was as much as 4 percentage points higher than it otherwise would’ve been, though much more research is needed to accurately capture the effects.

Election festivals are about changing how we experience elections—less as a solitary errand to run on your way home from work, like picking up the dry cleaning; more a national celebration and exercise in community accountability.

It’s not too late to book a public picnic table or fire pit, or think about firing up the barbecue. It’s time to remember that voting is something we do together.


Tuesday, October 8

DO VOTERS CARE ABOUT LOCAL CANDIDATES?

Every election, most of the media coverage focuses on the party leaders. Local candidates only tend to get noticed if they’ve said or done something controversial. At a practical level, this makes sense, since it’s the leaders who take part in the national debates, announce their party’s platform, and have a chance of being Prime Minister.

But in our parliamentary system, we don’t vote for the Prime Minister, we vote for who we want to represent our constituencies as our local Member of Parliament (as we touched on in our first explainer). So can local candidates shape voters’ decisions separately from the party leader? The short answer is yes!

Research has repeatedly found that local candidates have a small impact on who Canadians vote for. A study based on a survey of more than 20,000 Canadians during the 2015 election found that the local candidate shaped how 4% of votes were cast. This may not sound like much, but considering that many races were really close, this 4% of votes determined the result in roughly one in 10 seats – more than enough to change the overall outcome of the election.

So in the 2019 election, don’t be surprised if you see that different parties have gone out of their way to find strong local candidates, especially in places where they expect a tight race, since someone with a good reputation in the riding can help attract more votes beyond what a party leader can deliver.

Tuesday, October 1

WATCHING THE DEBATES (AND OUR BIASES)

This week’s explainer focuses on the cognitive pitfalls that accompany political conversations. With the English national leaders’ debate coming up on October 7 and its French equivalent on October 10, it’s worth asking: what biases do we hold when watching such debates?

Some studies suggest that the way candidates look on TV influences some voters more than the content of the debates. Our preconceived notions of gender, race, age, and beauty influence the way we understand such debates. Watching the debates on a high-definition TV may also affect how candidates are perceived.

Most viewers use the debate as a way to confirm their pre-existing voting intentions. Plenty of studies show that debates mostly lead to partisan reinforcement.

It’s not even the debate itself that influences voters the most—it’s often the post-debate political conversations (like analyses in the press) that tend to shape what people think of the candidates. We’re easily manipulated to evaluate the debate based on what others think rather than our own assessment.

Leaders’ debates are an occasion for viewers to learn more about political issues and candidates, especially for those who are less knowledgeable about politics. However, most people who tune into the debate are already well-informed, casting doubt on how much voters can actually glean from the debate. The format of the debate, the issues discussed, and the timing of the debate during the election campaign also matter.

The way debates are portrayed as potential “game changers” and often compared to boxing make it seem like debates can determine the “winner.” But some scholars think that we tend to exaggerate the value of debates since we’re biased in thinking that it’s through rational deliberation that we make our decisions. (But as this week's explainerand the Samara Centre's Field Guide to Online Political Conversations show, we’re not).

Next week, challenge yourself to be a critical and independent thinker during the leaders’ debates (or at your local all-candidates meeting)! Try to identify what biases you hold beforehand, and in order to formulate your opinions free from social pressures, consider watching the debates without following the conversation on Twitter.

For more information on how and when you can watch the debates, click here.


Tuesday, September 24

ARE ELECTIONS EDUCATIONAL?

The focus of this week’s explainer got the research team wondering: are elections educational? They should, in theory, provide a great opportunity for citizens to learn about their governments and the big issues of the day. There’s massive media attention, and leaders on TV and candidates at the door are talking (again, theoretically) about policy. 

So do we actually learn anything during elections? Happily, the short answer is yes: studies from around the democratic world have found that elections help citizens learn about issues and where the parties stand.

There are some caveats, though. Some of that learning disappears after the campaign is over.  And campaign-time learning isn’t enough to close the gaps between highly politically knowledgeable and less-engaged citizens. That’s important—research has found that if we as citizens knew more about issues, many of us would vote differentlyand we’d get different election results. 

So Canadians probably rely too much on election campaigns to catch us up on current events. That’s why there should be better opportunities for big, accessible public learning between elections.

Early this year, the Samara Centre published a call for more ongoing investment in civic literacy: the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary for active citizenship. There’s a responsibility—shared by governments, media, community groups, workplaces, and others—to make it easier for Canadians to continue deepening their political knowledge, after the voting’s done.



Tuesday, September 17

ARE YOU READY TO VOTE? 

1.  By mail (apply before October 15)
2.  On select campuses (October 5-9)
3.  At advance polls (October 11-14)
4.  At an Elections Canada office (until October 15)
5.  On Election day (October 21) – your last chance to vote!

To prove your identity (who you are) and residence (where you live):

• You can show a piece of government photo ID with your address.
  

• OR: Show two pieces of ID or documentation, with at least one showing your address. See the full list of accepted documents on Election Canada’s website.
  
  
• OR: If you don’t have ID, you can still vote! You can “declare” your identity to the Elections Canada staff and have someone “vouch” that the information is correct. (They must know you, be assigned to the same polling station as you, and be able to prove their own identity and residence.

And remember, you do not need to be registered in advance to vote! As long as you have the required ID (or make a declaration and have someone vouch for you) you can be added to the register of voters when you go to vote. To check your registration, go to Elections Canada's website.

For more details and to download our voting calendar, head over to our What You Need to Know to Vote page!

Tuesday, September 10

A BIT ABOUT THE WRIT

Lately, you may’ve heard some talk about the writ drop. But what is a writ, and why does it drop?

Although Canada has a fixed election date, the campaign can’t start until the prime minister meets with the governor general and requests that she officially (1) dissolves the current Parliament, and (2) asks the Chief Electoral Officer to issue the "writs of election" for each constituency.

In Canada, this formal process for starting an election is often called "dropping the writ" —which is strange since there is actually one writ for each of the 338 constituencies, and since nothing actually "drops." No one knows for sure how the term developed, but there are some theories. (To be clear, the "writ drop" is a folk term, not a technical term, and there are some political scientists whose heads explode each time it’s used—we’re not among them.)

Until the last election, prime ministers could "drop the writ" whenever they chose so long as the campaign was at least 36 days long. Changes passed in 2018 kept that minimum, but now specify that elections can be at most 50 days long, allowing the prime minister to vary the length of the campaign by up to 14 days.

Since this year's election falls on October 21, the prime minister could have started the election as early as Sept. 1 and must call it by September 15. This means that the election will have definitely started by this time next week!