Why youth doesn't vote

Anita Li.

Elections are coming up -- but youth doesn't care.

This is the same tired, old line that inevitably crops up at some point during election time, and Toronto's 2010 municipal election is no different.

Yes, city-wide voter turnout was a mere 39.3% in the city's most recent election in 2006.

Yes, youth voter turnout is notoriously low in elections for all levels of government.

But the notion that young Torontonians somehow don't care about the well-being of their city is a lazy explanation at best -- and a ludicrous one at worst -- for why they aren't hitting the polls. 

When I asked two of my friends if they'd be voting in the upcoming election, both said "No" without a moment's hesitation. Both are educated 22-year-olds (one is finishing up her undergrad degree and the other is enrolled in a masters program) who, contrary to the stereotype of a young non-voter, do have opinions on issues beyond whether The Hills is scripted or genuine reality. But the thing is: they're discouraged from voting.

But why?

One oft-cited reason is cynicism of politicians -- that they don't follow through with promises, and only have their political interests at heart. And to be frank, who can blame them with antics like this happening more than I care to count. 

But an even more compelling reason, mentioned by one of my friends, is the lack of access to information -- and perhaps more importantly -- interesting and relevant information about elections.

It's great that candidates are reaching out to Toronto's youth through Twitter and Facebook; and indeed, social media is an effective tool to champion one's cause or disseminate one's views.

But at the end of the day, regardless of the means of delivery, these causes and views are moot if politicians aren't connecting to young people on a level they can relate to -- that is: more efficient TTC service so I can get to school faster; more funding for community centres so I can play basketball with my friends...

Youth is more likely to respond (and vote) if it sees the upcoming election as a means to effect tangible change that influences daily lives.

So, candidates: Please leave your jargon-filled rhetoric to the academics.

About Anita Li

Comments

[Jim]

Perhaps, but politicians have taken up such causes in the past. Transit and community centres were, after all, THE issues of the David Miller campaign.

It may be more elementary than that.

There is remarkably little coverage of municipal politics in papers, and its difficult to know where your representative stands on any given issue.

Forming political parties could actually help, as then there would be a coordinated message and plan for the city on a level that is easy for someone to follow in his or her spare time, and it is easier to hold politicians to account on whether or not they follow through.

[Borys Nijinski]

Selfish "me" generation who want everything now.

Politicians who only think of themselves (ie drive for reelection starts right after they get elected). Case in point: Miller's drive to improve the waterfront which is a visible "achievement" as opposed to spending on invisible infrastructure (how many watermain breaks have we seen in recent history? Had some politician had a vision 20 yrs ago, we wouldn't be having the watermain breaks now, but then who has stood on a corner waiting to cross the street and thought "gee it is great that [enter name here] had the foresight to maintain the watermains 20 yrs ago bec if they hadn't then there would be a sink hole here right now.)

[Michael P]

Agreed with everything said here, but another key reason why young people don't vote: Lack of a viable alternative.

Let's face the facts - The NDP is not so much different from the Conservative Party as we are indoctrinated to think - Sure their "political" viewpoints differ, but they are realistically two sides to the same coin. Both are short-term thinking, campaigning bureaucrats, who band together with like minded individuals to waste their time yelling and moaning at the loud mouthed remarks of the other bands of individuals.

Honestly, Liberals have some good ideas, Conservatives have some good ideas - everyone has some good ideas. But we all have some bad ideas too.

To grossly overgeneralize, most conservatives probably trump most NDP members on good economic thinking. But most NDP members probably have way better social ideas. So why cant we all work together?

When you are unable to come to terms with the fact that someone outside your party lines has anything useful to contribute, and you spend more time saving face & making decisions based on how the headline is going to read you are going to create a lot of disenfranchisement, especially among the youthful populous who have a lot of new ideas they want to contribute.

Campaigning and partisan politics are the relics of an archaic system no longer relevant in the emerging information age. Why does no one ever talk about this?

In closing, I'll leave a summation of the problem in the capable hands of someone from one of the most perceptive fields around today - Stand Up Comedy:

"Everybody's so busy wanting to be down with the gang. 'I'm conservative', 'I'm liberal', 'I'm conservative'. Bullshit! Be a fucking person! Lis-ten! Let it swirl around your head. Then form your opinion. No normal, decent person is one thing, okay? I've got some shit I'm conservative about, I've got some shit I'm liberal about." - Chris Rock.

[Ken Wood]

The premise of Anita Li's argument - that youth don't vote, not because they don't care, but because: A: They are cynical of political promises and B: There is not easy access to 'interesting' and relevant information, is naive at best and a bad excuse at worst.

Get real. This is the ONLY system we have. If you don't like it, work to change it. If you seek information - go out and find it. You could even run for office yourself. There are candidate's meetings, tons of information here and elsewhere.

I subit today's youth are conditioned to get things quick, easy and with no effort.

Why today's youth don't vote? One word. Lazy.

[Dave]

I agree with cynicism but this can not solely be attributed to youths. While working on the previous federal campaign many voters I approach were simply not interested because it was either Mr. Harper or Mr. Dion. In fact, most of the people whom I spoke with were probably in their early 30's to mid 50's. Interestingly, statistics tells us that this is also the age group most likely to vote. But when you have to choose between two candidates who were not very popular back then, people rather not make the trip down to the local elementary school or church. Now that Mr. Harper has gain in the polls, it would be interesting to see how he does in Ontario, especially in the GTA ridings.

In terms of the upcoming municipal elections, it does not seem like the political spectrum is well represented. Smitherman was Dalton's right hand man. I think it is fair to say he is Dalton Jr. With the Liberals introducing so many taxes, signing deals with foreign companies (Samsung), it will be interesting to see how this would affect Smitherman. Rossi is a very interesting case. I guess you can't really put a label on the guy but I would assume he is more right then Smitherman.

Having said that, I can not find how these two leading candidate appeal to youths. Smitherman might appeal to youths and the university crowd because many of them, not all of them have been taught to embrace diversity, which also includes sexual orientation. Some university students might vote for Smitherman just because "it would be cool to have a gay mayor".

On a side note, speaking of university students, when I was a student I noticed that many of my peers were outspoken NDPers or self identified as lefties because they are idealists. Needless to say, the NDP definitely knows how to connect with students and youths, you've got to give it to them when it comes to outreach and grassroots campaigning.

I don't know if youths are just lazy or not interested or whatever but President Obama's campaign was a huge success. It would be interesting to see candidates here follow his strategies, integrating technologies with traditional oratory skills. Hey, perhaps Elections Canada/Elections Ontario/Toronto would take it a step further and allow online voting! Would that encourage everyone to vote?

I once heard a story on CFRB that although a lot of people signed up for Protesting Proroguing Parliament on Facebook, not much actually cared. Therefore, just because youths and other people of different age groups sign up for some group, it does not necessarily mean they are interested. Perhaps some just think it is "cool" and jump on the bandwagon. Youths are definitely an interesting segment to look at. They can be trend setters. Yet as a voting bloc they can be no better then regressive - voluntarily giving up the privilege to vote - a right once disenfranchised to women, Asians and First Nations.

[Denis McKee]

Ms Li believes that her educated friends who can complete the challenging studies to earn a university degree and who live in a digitally connected age are unable to access information on political parties especially during an election! They are unable to find a political party's website, address of a campaign office or a constituency office. They can't use a phone or e-mail to contact a person who is actively trying to make his/her name and positions known to everyone through the internet, mailings, posters, interviews, public meetings, social media and mass media?
Perhaps these young people should stop deriding all people running for public office and make the effort to get involved in making the changes they seem to want. Most political parties at the provincial and federal levels could be easily taken over by a committed group of less than a dozen people.

[gt]

face it, most youth do not vote because they don't care enough about it.

Ok thats an exaggeration. They care about University Tuition , if they are taking OSAP, or paying out of pocket, If their parents are paying, they don't care. I fall into this youth category,and quite frankly most of my peers are more pre-occupied with what's on the Bachelor, than they are about taxes, the city's debt and housing costs. Most adults do not come to a full understanding of their taxes or finances until their 30s, and really do not look at external factors in the economy and so on until they have responsibilities that they are passionate about, such as their Children.

Younger generations care about social issues and injustice and are generally idealistic, in any university we will see social groups geared towards these issues (which is why we sometimes lean NDP) but the focus and comittment comes with age, and often with that experience comes a better understanding of the issues and reality, which often conflicts with the idealistic views we hold.