As you all hopefully know, we have a municipal election coming up on Wednesday, Oct. 27. I have a few friends who, for various reasons, are planning on not voting or spoiling their ballot. I wanted to share some thoughts.

In my experience, there are three main reasons why people choose not to vote, or choose to spoil their ballot.

They are: not caring or not knowing enough to make an informed decision; believing that there is a fundamental flaw in our political and electoral system; and disliking all of the candidates and/or not wanting to be represented by any of them.

I assume that anyone reading this article already cares at least somewhat about the municipal election, so I won’t address the issue of not caring or not being politically informed. I do want to address the other two reasons why people choose not to vote.

Our political system is in desperate need of change. This is especially true at the federal level, but the municipal level certainly has problems as well.

If your reason for spoiling your ballot or not voting is because you don’t want to participate in a system you don’t believe in, or because you want to send a message that the system needs to change, that is understandable.

“ No matter how many of us don’t vote, spoil our ballots, or even vote for a fringe candidate, one of these two people will be the next mayor of Winnipeg

However, refusing to vote is not the best way to accomplish this and it’s extremely unlikely that spoiling your ballot will make a difference.

It may, if enough people do it, send a message. But, there are many more effective ways to send a message. Protests, letter writing, or songwriting – to name a few – will send more of a message than spoiling your ballot.

After this election, either Sam Katz or Judy Wasylycia-Leis will be mayor. The latest polls are pretty clear on this point.

No matter how many of us don’t vote, spoil our ballots, or even vote for a fringe candidate, one of these two people will be the next mayor of Winnipeg. It is up to the age-eligible citizenry to decide which one of them it will be.

The final reason people choose not to vote or to spoil their ballot – not liking any of the candidates – is also understandable.

But in this case, even if none of the candidates appeal to you, ask yourself this: is there one candidate you would choose over the other? Better yet, is there one candidate that you would really not like to see in office?

It all comes down to one thing – one question: whether or not you personally want Sam Katz to win the mayoral election.

It’s generally the young and politically informed that choose to spoil ballots or to not vote out of protest. And if the young, informed and politically active aren’t voting, then the other side wins the election.

Leah Borchert is a psychology, theatre and German studies student at the University of Winnipeg.

Published in Volume 65, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 14, 2010)