Voter turnout directly affects which government will be elected to parliament and whether that government will form a majority or not. In recent years, the voter turnout of ages 18-24 has been declining with each federal election, to the point where this age group has the lowest voting turnout out of all eligible voters. According to Elections Canada, “voter turnout fell to an all-time low in the 2008 federal election, with only 58.8% of eligible voters actually voting. In addition, the Canadian Parliamentary Review points out that “in the 37th general election, only 25% of ages 18-24 voted, while voters 58 and older had a turnout of nearly 81.1%”.
Although these statistics may seem shocking, it is of greater importance to know why the voter turnouts of 18-24 year olds are the lowest in the country. There are many factors that contribute to low voting turnout, such as access or proximity to voting stations and disinterest in party platform or leadership. According to the Canadian Parliamentary Review, many people did vote in the last election because “ the polling stations were in an unfamiliar neighbourhood or section that was unheard of to the voter,” as well as the “availability of transportation, such as a bus route, to the voting station” have caused many voters to opt out of the voting process. In respect to disinterest in leadership, the Canadian University Press points out that “recent and ongoing attack ads and generally negative exchanges between parties is something young people simply don’t want to see in politics”. This can be said for a lot of people my age, because we would rather see parties present platforms that would benefit the country, instead of bashing other parties to gain voter apathy. However, many organizations, such as Elections Canada, are trying to persuade young people to vote. According to Canadian University Press, voter turnout can be increased by “reaching out to voters, either on campuses or through social media, because that is where most young people are located nowadays”. In addition, many young voters believe that the government doesn’t care about young people and the topics that concern them. If we don’t get young voters to start voting now, then this trend of decreasing voter turnout can be adopted by the older generations as well, which could lead to even a lower voting turnout than 58.8% in the last federal election.
