While the Quebec election campaign has just taken off, in Montreal, a municipal commission will look from Tuesday on the results of the ballot last November and its meager participation rate, which was below the 40% mark.
Young people were particularly numerous to shun the municipal elections. And among the solutions put forward to encourage them to vote more is Internet voting.
In 2017, 42.47% of citizens registered on the electoral list exercised their right to vote in municipal elections in Montreal. This figure dropped to 38.3% last year. Should we attribute this drop to the COVID-19 pandemic? Elections Montreal does not go that far, but reports that the health crisis has made the holding of the ballot more complex. Remember that to facilitate citizen participation, the vote took place over four days instead of two.
The federal elections, which were held on September 20, 2021, three days after the start of the municipal election period, may have reduced voter interest in the municipal ballot, also points out Elections Montreal.
It was in Outremont that Montreal voters were proportionally the most numerous to vote, with a participation rate of 56.3%. At the other end of the spectrum, in Saint-Laurent, the participation rate reached 28.9%, the lowest of all Montreal boroughs.
During the elections last November, Elections Montreal and the administration of Valérie Plante were criticized by the opposition for not having allowed postal voting for all seniors aged 70 and over. Elections Montreal had only offered this service to certain categories of citizens, including residents of CHSLDs and people unable to travel. Just over 4,500 ballots were sent to Elections Montreal; of this number, 3866 were deemed valid.
Despite everything, the participation of seniors has changed little between 2017 and 2021, notes Elections Montreal.
The youth vote
On the other hand, the vote of young people aged 18 to 35 has declined, from a participation rate of 28.6% in 2017 to 24.7% in 2021 – a finding that Elections Montreal considers worrying.
This low rate also worries Joia Duskic, vice-president of the Conseil jeunesse de Montréal (CJM). “It’s not that young people aren’t interested or that they aren’t informed. I have more the impression that the problem is in access to the vote, which is complex, ”she says.
The CJM has several ideas to stimulate the vote of young people. First: Internet voting. “It would be a revolution, and it would simplify things. Young people would no longer have any excuses for not showing up, ”says Mme Duskic. “For young people, postal voting is not the most effective way, especially because they often change addresses and are not necessarily stable in one place. »
Still, for now, the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ) is not ready to implement this kind of system. In 2021, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, had however asked the DGEQ to look into the question in anticipation of the municipal elections of 2025.
Responsible for democracy issues on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, Robert Beaudry does not close the door to this possibility. “We will listen if we are offered ways of doing things and if we are supported. Because these are quite large investments. Last year, the Montreal elections cost $18.8 million, compared to $12.3 million in 2017, he says.
Remember that in 2005, 133 municipalities, including Montreal, tested electronic voting, which ended in bitter failure due to computer failures. Quebec subsequently decreed a moratorium on electronic voting.
However, Projet Montréal has made a commitment to offer postal voting to all voters for the 2025 election. This operation will be a challenge, because each voter must decide on several positions: the mayor of the city, the borough, the borough councilor and the city councillor. “These are things that we must look into now, because even if the elections are in a little over three years, it’s coming quickly,” said the elected official.
At the polls at 16?
The CJM believes that young people should be able to vote from the age of 16. If they can’t, they should at least be able to work in polling stations on municipal election day, Joia Duskic said. “It’s a good introduction to the electoral process and polling places. »
For Robert Beaudry, voting at 16 is a social issue. If such a decision were to be made, it would have to be consistent with the other levels of government. “In my opinion, the remedy for attracting young people is not to think that municipal democracy only happens on election day. It is something that is cultivated throughout the year. Young people must be made to feel part of the City. »
As part of the consultation conducted by the Commission of the Presidency, citizens or groups interested in the issue will have until September 20 to submit their opinion. The commission plans to adopt its recommendations on November 15.