I do not fear doing my job.
I am afraid of doing a bad job but when I write something opposing people like Stephen Harper or Donald Trump, I do not fear for my life.
Not every journalist in the world has that luxury.
The same can be said for voting.
We have a worldwide problem when it comes to rigged elections, dictatorships, and violent opposition for people “voting the wrong way.”
We do not have that here.
No one has a valid reason not to vote on Oct. 26.
I am a firm believer in voting and I hear all the excuses for not voting; “I don’t have time,” “I’m busy that day,” “I cannot get to the polling station,” “I don’t know who to vote for.”
Going to the polling station and casting a ballot is going to take, at most, an hour out of your day.
The three polling stations, the Humboldt Uniplex, St. Augustine Parish Hall, and the Royal Canadian Legion Hall, are accessible to everyone, mobile polling is happening with requests being due on Oct. 14 at 4:00 pm for those who are housebound, and two advanced polls are being set up on Oct. 20 at Humboldt Uniplex and on Oct. 22 at Caleb Village.
As for the question of who to vote for, the candidate list is given out over a month in advance.
Especially with the municipal election, these are friends and neighbours running in the election. Calling them up and asking what they stand for, what their plans are, and how they think they are qualified for the job is the easiest solution to what I think is the most common and most flawed excuse.
In any Canadian election, finding out more about the candidates who want your votes is not that difficult.
Another excuse I hear is that ours is a broken system.
People may question the effectiveness of the voting system. I know I question whether my vote actually counts at the federal or provincial levels.
However, unlike systems around the world, we can still question that system safely and still cast our ballots.
Our elections are not rigged. Our elections have safeties in place to make sure that the secret ballot is upheld, that people cannot be pressured to vote a certain way, and that tampering of the election results cannot happen.
People who feel their voices are not being heard can still voice this opposition of the system safely and will not be beaten or killed because of it.
We are lucky to have a functioning system where people do not cast their ballots in fear.
The problem now becomes getting people to use the system.
Ours is a democratic right that we should be proud to have yet many do not take advantage of this.
In the 2016 Saskatchewan elections, only 53.5 per cent of eligible voters turned out vote.
In the 2015 federal election 69.9 eligible voters cast a ballot.
When it comes to voting within the municipality, according to Returning Officer, Michael Ulriksen, 1437 votes were cast in the 2012 civic election. With 4530 people over the age of 18 living in Humboldt in 2011, that makes around a 31.7 per cent voter turnout. However this number does not include those who were ineligible to vote because of citizenship or residential status so this percentage is just an approximation.
This number also does not include those who practice their democracy in other ways because there is always more to be done that we are free to do.
Speak to a councillor, speak to the new mayor, write a letter, make a phone call, get people together to voice concerns in greater numbers, go to a council meeting and discuss the issues, do something to exercise your democratic rights.
But the easiest thing that can be done is to vote.
For more information on the Oct. 26 election, going to www.humboldt.ca/municipal-election-information.
