I voted today. And here I sit, on the sofa, with my laptop, watching some election results show on Shaw while I spod around on the net..
Sam Sullivan won the vote for Mayor of Vancouver, beating Jim Green by a few thousand votes. And I voted for him, which may or may not have been the right thing to do - I really don’t know enough about the issues that he’s for and against, but I do know that Jim Green looks like a slimey toad and he doesn’t seem trustworthy to me. Judging a book by its cover? Sure, I totally am. But you have instincts for a reason, and my instinct is not to like the bloke much.
I had a quick look at the City of Vancouver website this morning and they have a bunch of candidate profiles online. You can check them out here. Check out Joe Hatoum - a young guy from Maple Ridge who thought he’d have a crack at standing for mayor. He’s got a website at www.604industries.com. He scored 96 votes, which isn’t quite as many as Sam Sullivan’s 61,543 but fair play to the guy for stepping up and taking an interest I think.
What do you think of government? Of the voting procedure? Of accessibility? Like… on the ballot sheet today, votes were asked to vote yes or no on 4 questions regarding the government borrowing money to pay for certain projects without needing to ask about it again.
Why aren’t we using technology more for this kind of stuff? Mail a question out, get people to vote online, or via phone, or even via mail if they must.. More power to the people, let them feel like their vote makes a difference, help them feel involved. Maybe that would help the turnout. This election has 132072 ballots cast out of a voter eligibility of 407040. That means 32% of people who could vote, did vote.. less than a third? In some countries, voting is a legal obligation. You don’t vote, you get fined.
Meh.. Politics.. it’s all fucked up really isn’t it?
