Commentary, Opinion

It’s easy – You just make an ‘x’

August 27, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

There’s a municipal election coming up in two months.

This is your chance to stay home on election day, then complain about what your local government is doing for the next four years, after not voting against the person you didn’t want to be elected, and not bothering to see which candidate might have best represented what you think should happen where you live.

It’s a chance to complain about the roads, the local parks, and where your tax dollars are being spent without ever bothering to learn why the municipality is spending money on some projects while ignoring the fact that your neighbour’s hedge is six inches taller than the by-law allows.

It gives you the opportunity to complain about the way the municipality is run without learning the name of the person representing your neighbourhood.

During the last municipal elections in 2022, the average voter turnout across the province was 36 per cent. In some municipalities, that figure dropped to between 25 and 29 per cent.

That’s a dismal voter turnout.

Several years ago, there was a lot of concern about a local municipality spending money on a rather large project. Quite a few people were against it, citing other areas where they felt the money should be spent.

There were some half-hearted protests demanding the municipal council change its mind about spending money on the project.

As part of a story I was doing on the whole situation, I put a list of questions in place to ask the protesters. The questions were indirect, but still requested some information about what protesters thought of the project and why they were against it.

All of the people I spoke to were calm and rational, and very nice.

However, there was a ‘tell’, that was very apparent when I spoke to people. Some of the questions were very straightforward, and would normally have a quick reply.

A person who hesitated, or suddenly got quiet, pretty much gave up the fact that they didn’t bother to vote in the last election.

I didn’t question this, or ask them why they didn’t vote. It’s not my business to question their choice to participate or not participate in the election process.

However, it was interesting to note how many people who now wanted to be heard had not bothered to mark an ‘x’ on a ballot during an election.

Most countries in the world don’t really have a transparent voting process – even those which claim to have a democratic vote. We do, and yet almost 70 per cent of the population doesn’t even cast a ballot.

It was only a couple of hundred years ago that Ontario didn’t have a voting process and the province was run by appointed bureaucrats who made sure their fortunes were taken care of before the regular citizens even had a say in how the province was run.

The 1837 Rebellion was the common citizen’s way of saying they didn’t like the way the province was being managed.

They were a group of only around 900 individuals who marched on Toronto in a show of bravado, carrying some muskets, pitchforks, and other farm implements as weapons.

They were farmers, not soldiers, so the initial contact with a well-trained militia group didn’t go well. In fact, some of the rebellion leaders later ended up swinging at the end of a rope

It wasn’t much of a rebellion as uprisings go, but it was enough to make those in power realize that change was necessary.

It takes a lot of courage to throw your hat in the ring and run for public office. Everyone who does sign up to be a part of the process and seeks to be elected should be thanked for being a part of the process.

And yet, the majority of citizens in the province won’t exercise their right to cast a ballot.

It’s not a hard process. You make a decision on who you would like to represent you.

The drive to the polling station takes two minutes. You walk inside, mark an ‘x’ next to the name of the person you would like to see elected, then you go home, take your place on the Lazy Boy chair and watch a re-run of your favourite television show.

It’s simple.

Go ahead and give it a try in October.

At the very least, you can tell your children you did your civic duty and took part in the process that determines the future of where you live.

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