Absence of voter cards an issue

Not all residents in Windsor who are eligible to vote have been receiving their Voter Information Cards.

Only 37 per cent of Windsor residents eligible to vote cast their ballot for a new mayor, city council members, and school board trustees to represent their community for a four year term.

The city of Windsor made voting accessible for residents by setting up advanced polling stations for six days during October. Residents that had transportation troubles presented their Voter Information Cards to bus drivers on Oct. 27 and received free transit to get to the polls. On election day 103 polls were set up around the city divided between 10 wards.

Every ballot holds weight with such a low voter turnout. One of the most divided wards was Ward 4. Chris Holt was elected as City Councillor in the ward with only 28 per cent of the ballots cast.

Jordan Renaud, 24, the president of local public relations firm Prometheus Communications worked on Ward 4 candidate Remy Boulbol’s campaign. Renaud was formerly the Chief Returning Officer from the University of Windsor Students Alliance that under his management oversaw the highest voter turnout at the University of Windsor of about 43 per cent.

“People not getting their voter cards is a major problem that needs to be sorted,” said Renaud. “But it’s a perception issue that can be corrected, People can know that they should be able to vote at their local poll, provided it’s publicized, if they are a resident there.”

Renaud said networked computer technology would help deputy returning officers access resident data regardless of who they are or which ward they are in.

“I urge people to vote simply because they can. We make all sorts of decisions based on a lot less information,” said Renaud. “It’s not difficult to do some simple research especially when there is certainly a correlation between people who complain and criticize our governments and leaders and those who do not vote. Every vote does count and every candidate would love to have your vote.”

Residents that receive Voter Information Cards in the mail are registered to vote. Many people do not receive these cards because of address changes.

Joshua Kaiser, 23, has lived in Ward 4 for over a year now and was still registered to vote at his parent’s residence in Ward 6.

“They could make registering to vote a lot easier by giving Windsorites an online resource where one could put in their information and be registered in whatever ward they live instead of the current system where they have to go down to city hall with this information,” said Kaiser.

Even with advanced polling stations set up, residents cannot prepare for the unexpected. Katlina Cowan, 25, had to return to her hometown of London, Ontario for a funeral on election day. Cowan would have made arrangements to vote but didn’t know about the advanced polling stations because she didn’t receive a votercard either.

“There’s enough signs telling us who to vote for, yet most people don’t know how to, or care to do it at all,” said Cowan. “It’s unappealing to those who don’t understand how it affects them.”

Those who are not registered to vote and would like to be should contact the office of the city clerk at (519) 255-6285.