Chris Gerbrandt might write “no thank you” on his ballot in this year’s provincial election.
The rural Manitoba resident has voted as long as he’s been allowed to, including selecting candidates in local by-elections and leadership races. This year, however, “none of the above” seems like an appealing option.
“I think the three large (parties), they’re always falling back on the same promises over and over and they’re getting old,” he said.
Under Manitoba’s Election Act, registered voters can choose to “decline” their vote and it will still count toward the overall turnout. Manitoba is one of four provinces — along with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario — which allow for declined ballots to be counted as legitimate votes.
Gerbrandt, a La Verendrye constituent, said looking at each party’s platform doesn’t compel him to vote in favour of any of them. In fact, it does the exact opposite.
“There are some simple solutions to a lot of these problems, but either people are dancing and skirting around them or looking for ways to capitalize.”
Declined vs rejected ballots
Elections Manitoba defines spoiled or rejected ballots as ones that do not clearly indicate the intention of the voter, are marked in a way that can identify the voter or cannot be read by a vote-counting machine.
A declined ballot is one that is left blank by the voter, or in the case of a write-in ballot, has the word “declined” on it.
“When we report the results, declined and rejected are their own category. The number of spoiled ballots are recorded in the voting book, but since they do not end up in the ballot box, they are not recorded with the results,” said Mike Ambrose, director of communications for Elections Manitoba.
In the last provincial election, 1,159 voters declined their ballot, the second-highest number of declined votes since that tally began being included in the final count in 1999. In 2016, an unprecedented 4,023 voters declined to choose a representative. In 2011, only 440 voted “none of the above.”
As of Saturday evening more than 200,000 residents voted in advance polls, nearly double the number from 2019’s provincial election.
“None of the above” important option to have: advocate
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Ontario-based Democracy Watch, says the ability to decline a ballot is an important right to have and doesn’t signal voter apathy.
“It’s an important message you can send because you’ve shown up, but it essentially says, ‘I don’t find any of you candidates or parties are worth voting for,’” he said.
Conacher is advocating for an official option on ballots, both provincially and federally, to check “none of the above” and provide a space to explain why citizens are opting not to vote, saying it would increase overall turnout.
“Some of them feel that none of the parties care about the issues they care about or are concerned about their concerns. And this would give them a way to show up clearly and send that message to the parties,” he said.
“Political parties would love that information because it would let them know how their platforms were not satisfying those voters, and how they could attract them to the polls to vote for them in the next election.”
Gerbrandt, a firefighter, sees the education system, crime, health care and a controversial plan to mine silica sand in the region as areas of concern no one party is taking seriously.
“Don’t just keep painting a big, beautiful picture looking for votes or slander the other party; that’s not going to cut it,” he said. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
Conacher said even if a voter doesn’t take an interest in politics, casting a ballot is important in making politicians aware of the disinterest and holding them accountable to it.
“If you stay at home and you say, ‘I’m not concerned about who’s in power,’ why would you think that people in power would be concerned about you?”
To decline a ballot, voters can take their form as they normally would, and instead of marking an “X” beside a candidate’s name, the word “declined” can be printed across the front of the paper. Alternatively, the ticket can be left blank and returned to the elections officer.
Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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