Ottawa

How low can we go?

Kate Chappell relates a tale from the polling station.

Civic education from an early age is also a key to raising citizens that are interested in voting. Throughout the day, teachers escorted groups of children (we were stationed at an elementary school in a massive, unheated gymnasium) through the voting station. They seemed to pay attention as the Supervising Deputy Returning Officer explained the voting process. The best question, to which absolutely no one had an answer was: “What happens if nobody votes?”

A question to those who aren’t presently moved by the decline in voting turnout might be a version of that: how much lower can turnout get before the legitimacy of the entire exercise falls into doubt?

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