The blame game has begun regarding the record-low voter turnout in the Fort McMurray-Athabasca byelection.
Some call the 15.37-per-cent turnout the inevitable byproduct of holding a byelection on a Monday sandwiched between a weekend and a holiday Tuesday. It’s true: many riding residents were likely away.
Some have gone so far as to blame this on the machinations of Stephen Harper, who called the election for the awkwardly situated Monday.
Others say the transient nature of the population in Fort McMurray had a part to play in the low numbers specific to this riding.
There’s certainly a case to be made that whoever was elected was essentially given carte blanche to begin campaigning for the 2015 general election now. Why would voters want to go to the effort of voting for an elongated campaign, the logic goes?
Despite all this, there is no real excuse for the total abdication of democratic responsibility that the byelection turnout showed here. This was an election for representation at the top level of government in the country. However brief the term for the newly elected MP, if there is even a small chance that more of Fort McMurray-Athabasca’s concerns will be heard and acted upon, why would voters not do their part?
There were advance polls anyone travelling on June 30 could have utilized before they departed. And more than just the transient Fort Mac population clearly stayed away from the polls when 85 per cent of electors did not vote.
If anyone is to blame for the virtually empty ballot box, it is us.
