You didn't vote, did you?

Don't feel bad, nobody else did either. I probably should have posted this as a helpful reminder a day or two ago, but I nearly forgot myself.

With the federal and US elections just behind us, I think it is fair to say that Saturday's municipal elections were even easier to ignore than those in previous years. The typical turnout for civic elections makes the record low 58% we got out for the latest federal election look like a rousing success. Take a look at a limited sampling of turnout from the 2005 polls:

Victoria - 26%
Esquimalt - 35%
Saanich - 11%
Vancouver - 32%

Not great to be sure. Citizenship education is a part of our mandate as social studies teachers, and as such our profession must take a share of the blame. So what can we do to promote awareness of local governance? As with most subjects, I think the best way to get students interested is to demonstrate the everyday relevance of civic issues.

While local politics are off of most people's radar, it can be argued that City Hall has the greatest influence on our day to day lives of any level of government. These are the people who decide whether or not you get a sidewalk and speed bumps in front of your house or your street is to be redesignated as a truck route, how often your trash gets picked up, if the lot across the street should be rezoned for a sewage treatment plant, if people can sleep in parks, the location of the homeless shelter, how much you pay for parking downtown and much much more.

That doesn't even touch on the duties of School Board Trustees (also elected yesterday) who will decide whether or not the school you teach at stays open, and how much funding you receive. Very few people get the opportunity to elect their bosses, so as teachers we should take advantage of our good fortune. This also gives us a unique opportunity to make politics relevant to our students, and to get THEM to promote voting to the adults in their lives. "Band uniforms falling apart? School can't afford Educational Assistants? No funding for field trips? Can anyone tell me what level of government deals with these issues? If they concern you, be sure to remind your parents to vote in the upcoming local elections..."

We can forgive our students for not knowing what City Hall does, but given the obvious import of municipal government, why don't adults get out and vote?

Visibility is an issue. A recent poll by the Columbia Institute's Centre for Civic Governance showed that (in mid Oct) only 7.2% of British Columbians could identify Nov 15 as the date of municipal elections. 28% were able to identify the month correctly, but 44% were unwilling to even venture a guess. Unless you make a habit of watching local news, you've probably never seen anything about the election on TV. All the more reason to emphasize civic politics in the classroom.

Lets face it: it is WORK to vote in a municpal election. When a federal election rolls around, you don't have to be a politico to make a choice. Most people's research extends little beyond looking for their party of choice on the ballot. Most voters probably couldn't tell you a thing about the candidate his or herself. "I vote Marxist-Leninist. Always have, always will, just like my mom and dad." Some cities have electoral slates in civic elections, but not all, and they're not always affiliated with national parties. I actually had to go online and READ about the candidates positions, horror of horrors. One coworker told me that since she didn't get a card in the mail(like in a fed election), she didn't know WHERE to vote.

This is a challenge we can turn into an opportunity to teach critical thinking. Our students need to learn how and where to find and evaluate information on local issues. We could have students pick an issue and research/evaluate the positions of various candidates. There are a myriad of issues facing every city, one of them is bound to pique their interest whether it be sewage treatment or the constuction of a new skateboard park. At the very least, it will be more personally relevant than another worksheet on the fur trade.

A few resources:

Columbia Institute: Centre for Civic Governance
A great think tank dedicated to civic government. Lots of info on powers and state of local government, and on issues facing communities.

Victoria Votes
Info on Victoria elections and to a lesser extent Saanich etc.

Municipalelections.com
BC govt site that details the powers of civic govt and the voting process. Includes handy FAQ sheets for both voters and prospective candidates.