Who to choose

Sharon McLeay

Times Contributor 

 

In a race where there are many candidates, all with seemingly similar platforms, it’s often difficult for people to choose who to vote for.

A Princeton University study on electoral behaviour summarized the many ways voters make their choices. 

One way was to choose the person that is the most familiar to the voter. Mayoral candidate Steve Grajczyk is certainly hoping that voter familiarity will encourage people to vote for him come election day.

“Most of you know me. I am a good guy and know what I have done for this town,” he said at the Oct. 9 candidate forum held at the Strathmore Civic Centre. 

The study listed some of the other ways voters choose candidates: 

• Through an immediate emotional stimulus or first impressions

• A candidate’s past performance

• Personal characteristics

• Targeting a specific issue and identifying with the candidate that represents it well 

• Choosing the candidate that represents a particular party stance (E.g. Liberal, Conservative, etc.)

• Choosing someone who shows leadership for a specific group of individuals

• Going with the candidate who fits societal norms that the individual or community expect

At the Oct. 9 forum, all candidates presented their platform and each had one or more of the aspects above included in their introductory speech; or it was delivered when they answered questions put to them from the audience. Many appealed to norms of family life and values, or community spirit. They designated their commitment to the community through work, or leadership in community associations or groups. Many of the answers were similar to the Oct. 3 forum, but some of the candidates adapted their campaign to more fully address issues brought up previously by the other candidates. 

The issues presented included improved residential, commercial, industrial and economic development; town debt and fiscal responsibility; water rates and utilities; recreational facilities; health care; seniors and youth services; and forming partnerships with service groups and other communities. 

So by delving further into internet, voters can use some tools to narrow down the candidate playing field.

A student teaching tool called ‘Think, Choose, Vote’ utilized in the British Columbia education system has students chart issues they think are important, evaluate what they know about the issues and do some further research on them. They also document what they know about the candidates. Then they chart the candidate’s platform and issue stance identifying them as factual, opinion based, or on based other criteria.

For those with a mathematical genius, there are also complicated mathematical formulas that can predict the probable winners of an election, but you must still do the math.

Many political parties and media outlets use polls to determine the most favourable candidates and some voters just go with the popular choice. There is the argument that polls can be skewed in the favour of one candidate or another depending on the bias of the pollster, but don’t think the election is all but won, as often the undecided vote swings the majority in a whole different direction from the previous polls, leading to an unexpected winner.

There is a computer tool called Vote Compass that was used in the Alberta 2012 provincial election, where voters answered questions on various issues and the computer compared those answers to the running candidate information. It quickly spit out the name of the candidate that most resembled the user’s profile. It was also available to voters by the CBC media website in the 2011 federal election. Vote Compass attracted nearly two million users over the five-week campaign. The answers also generated graphs of Canadian attitudes on certain issues. For results see: www.votecompass.com/results Unfortunately, there is no Vote Compass for local municipal elections.

So what’s left is going out to the forums, reading candidate pamphlets, calling or meeting with the candidate, talking with members of the associations they put up as references, reading their responses in the local media. It seems like a lot of work; but given that councillors and mayors are spending voters hard earned money for four years, and making decisions about increased taxation, it might be worth the time investment. With a little research and introspection, most voters should be able to pick out someone they think will be a great and mark a ballot when they enter the voting booth on Oct. 21.