Voting Strategies and their PROS & CONS

      It's that time of the (4) year again, where overturned billboards of dressed up candidates line the streets and lawns. Spam calls and messages from pestering strangers clog your phone and LAN lines. That's right, it's election season; specifically the provincial elections. This means it is time for those old enough to get off the couch, and go vote. Sounds easy enough- just get a ballot, check a box, and throw it into a big box. It is true that all you have to do to cast your vote is just that, but you must give your vote a little more thought.

      Voting in elections is important in a community; it is a method to officially appoint a candidate to take care of your community, and make important decisions. Knowing how substantial the leader of your community is, and how their decisions can even affect you, it is essential to think before you cast a vote.

      A simple way to decide who to vote for is to just pick whichever party you agree with most. If you are more concerned of our economy and debt rather than poverty or the environment, choose the party who shares your vision. If your chosen candidate wins the riding, it adds to the number of total seats your favoured party has within the legislature. The con of this strategy is that you may not entirely agree with the certain individual of the party you like. Just because candidates are in the same party does not mean they all have the exact ideals as you for all of Canada. This would mean your own little riding area may not be run the way you prefer. You must decided whether you will vote for your party or your candidate; your country or your community.

      Another strategy people use to decide who to vote for is to vote against whichever party/candidate they disagree with most. Sometimes people just don't like any of the parties and candidates. They don't understand any parties' vision, they don't agree with any candidates after listening to them. At this point, the only thing they can do to have a say in the election is to vote for their least hated party/candidate. Voting for your least hated party will still affect the numbers, and even play against your most hated party. There is not much you can do if you hate all your voting choices, just think of your vote as an attack against one particular party/individual (rather than your support of them).

      Of course, voting is not a mandatory action for citizens. Of the BC citizens eligible to vote this year, only an average of 51% actually voted. Those who did not cast a vote may have just been too lazy, busy, forgot, or just did not care for their government. Not voting could also be a choice if you truly hate all parties/individuals evenly. There is no benefit for you in voting, so why bother with wasting gas to drive to the nearest voting station.

      If you do end up at a voting station for some reason (maybe by tagging along with a companion), or still feel you must have your say, another voting technique you could use is to spoil your ballot. This doesn't just mean to simply cross all the candidate options off, but maybe you could write down what you think of our government decisions. Your ballot will definitely be read by some volunteer working at the stations, and depending on how outrageous your statement is and who picks it up, it could possibly even make it onto the news, just like this one did.

      Our democratic system was made to enable us to appoint our own leaders that we agree with. Thinking of it this way, you should vote for who you sincerely want as your leader, and your country's leader. If there is absolutely no one or party you would support, I still say you should go get your ballot. Boycotting the election will just give everyone a bad impression of you - that you don't care. If you spoil your ballot in a more effective way (as I mentioned above), and if many people do the same, your voice will (eventually) be heard.