{"id":627,"date":"2014-10-12T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/12\/only-committed-vote-in-school-board\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:40:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:40:52","slug":"only-committed-vote-in-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/10\/12\/only-committed-vote-in-school-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Only committed vote in school board elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

By Tracey Arial<\/b><\/p>\n

\nwww.arialview.ca<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLess than ten per cent of Quebec citizens voted in the last two school board elections.<\/p>\n

Bureaucratic hassles mean the voting rate may be similarly low this year. Unless you already support a candidate, it takes multiple phone calls and researching to figure out who would be a good representative.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a parent, who cares?<\/p>\n

Everyone should. The people who win these elections maintain, upgrade and sell public property, protect citizen health, help develop communities and help educate people. Yet in the last two elections, almost 70 per cent of them were acclaimed. No one ran against them.<\/p>\n

More elections will take place this time, in part because people can vote directly for school board chairs this year. Everyone gets at least two votes\u2014one for the chair of the school board and one for a commissioner who will represent people living in various communities.<\/p>\n

In the Montreal region, only three people will be acclaimed so far. Abi Kon\u00e9 is running solo in Marguerite-Bourgeoys\u2019 division 3, which covers the western portion of the St. Laurent borough. Daniel Olivenstein and Wayne Clifford are running for Lester B. Pearson\u2019s 11 and 12 divisions in Rigaud, Hudson and St. Lazare and Pincourt, Vaudreuil, Dorion respectively.<\/p>\n

Multiple elections are good. The difference between the cost of elections in which no one runs and those with lots of candidates don\u2019t differ much. The last school board election cost in the range of $20 million to run and this one is estimated to be only marginally higher. In 2007, the Directeur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des \u00e9lections du Qu\u00e9bec<\/i> (DGEQ) spent $1.1 million in advertising and public interest oversight. This year\u2019s tally is expected to be $1.5 million. Last time, candidates claimed $1,045,000 in expenses, so that figure will definitely go up. The 69 school boards haven\u2019t officially announced their costs last time with a comparison to this time, but most of those costs differ little with the number of candidates. If each spends $250,000 or more, as Wilfrid Laurier, Laval and the EMSB recently claimed, their total cost will add up to $17,250,000.<\/p>\n

MELS also has expenses that aren\u2019t disclosed in a full tally, but like the DGEQ and the school boards, the number of candidates is unlikely to change costs exponentially.<\/p>\n

The candidate problem is widely corrected, but will more voters turn out this time?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not yet clear. There are many bureaucratic hurdles just to make sure you get on the right electoral list and any exception to the usual rules takes multiple telephone calls to figure out.<\/p>\n

For example, I have a daughter in French public school outside of my voting division. Can I vote for English representatives? DGEQ said yes, but the wording on the Lester B. Pearson transfer form implied no.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nIt took four phone calls to ensure that I could legally add three extra words \u201cin your territory,\u201d sign the transfer and submit it by email. Lester B. Pearson officials agreed to accept it, but until the proper voter card arrived, it wasn\u2019t clear whether more would have to be done. Luckily, I am on the right list now.<\/p>\n

Election candidates tell me they\u2019re struggling to get out the vote too. They had until Oct. 4 to deliver transfer cards to the DGEQ, but that was a Saturday. Did the DGEQ accept transfer forms pushed under the door or will voters have to go in person prior to Oct. 14 to ensure they get on the list they want to be on?<\/p>\n

This is a description of just some of the hassles so far. Next up is learning which divisions we\u2019re all in, attending presentations by local candidates, getting informed about the issues and actually turning up to fill in a ballot on November 2.<\/p>\n

Time will tell if more voters get engaged this time.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Tracey Arial www.arialview.ca Less than ten per cent of Quebec citizens voted in the last two school board elections. Bureaucratic hassles mean the voting rate may be similarly low this year. Unless you already support a candidate, it takes multiple phone calls and researching to figure out who would be a good representative. 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