-Caveat Lector- http://www.nationalpost.com/ December 19, 2000 Election chief warming to mandatory voting Turnout falls to record low of 60.5% Tim Naumetz Southam News OTTAWA - Canada's chief electoral officer says Parliament might have to pass a law requiring citizens to vote if turnout falls any lower than it was in last month's federal election. Jean-Pierre Kingsley made his comments after releasing revised figures that show voter turnout for the Nov. 27 election might have been barely 60%, the lowest in Canada's history. While he finds the idea of a law compelling citizens to vote "repugnant," he said it might be needed if the participation rate continues to decline. "So far, I didn't think it was necessary, but if we start dipping below 60%, I'm going to have to change my mind," he said in an interview. Asked if he would support mandatory voting, he replied: "If the participation rate continues to drop, yes. "Sometimes, in order to save democracy, you have to do things that might seem to run a little bit against it, but I certainly like the idea of voting freely, as opposed to ... being required to do it by law." According to a study published last year in the Canadian Parliamentary Review, the participation rate in Australia, where voting is mandatory, is 94%. Voting is also compulsory in Belgium and Greece, where the turnout rates are 92% and 80% respectively. Elections Canada has reported 12,813,647 people cast ballots. The new figures reveal a total of 21,161,565 registered voters for this election, about 800,000 more than the 20.3 million the agency estimated on voting day. This brings the turnout down to 60.5% from the previous calculation of 62.9%. Such a dismal participation rate would give Canada one of the worst records among the 29 industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ahead only of Poland, Switzerland and the United States. Canadian Alliance MP Ted White, his party's watchdog over election law changes, strongly opposes mandatory voting. "I think people do make a conscious choice to not go out and vote and my feeling is they are entitled to make that choice," he said yesterday. "If they're happy to have 12% of the population make the decision, then so be it." Mr. White said turnout likely dropped from the 67% recorded in 1997 because a majority of the population is satisfied with the way the Liberal government has handled affairs. "Much as I hate to say this, I think that people have been relatively happier with the way things have been going over the last five years than they were, say, in the previous five years," Mr. White said. Mr. Kingsley said 1,054,902 people had to register at polling stations on election day in order to cast their ballots. Upon arriving at the polls, they discovered their names were not on the permanent list of voters in their districts. The permanent list, introduced in 1996 amendments to the Canada Elections Act but used entirely for the first time in the November election, replaced door-to-door enumeration for each federal election, an exercise that promoted participation but cost up to $75-million every time it was done. Critics of the permanent list predict it will reduce voter turnout and cite as evidence the average participation rate of 53% in the United States, where voters are responsible for registering themselves to vote. There were complaints about the permanent list leading up to the election, with campaign organizers and even Elections Canada returning officers citing the discovery of deceased people on the list and the omission of people who had voted for years from the list. Mr. Kingsley cautioned it is likely many names that were on the permanent voters list were duplications or names of deceased people and predicted the participation rate will be higher than 60% once the list has been exhaustively scrutinized. He expected that to take more than a month to complete. Mr. Kingsley said Elections Canada is paying the polling firm of Ipsos-Reid $298,000 for a thorough post-election analysis to determine the weaknesses and strengths of the voters list and other election systems. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
