Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: The many benefits of a snap election during a pandemic

Oct 17, 2020 | 6:54 AM

FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING (including my own) about holding an election during the pandemic, things have gone quite nicely.

With only a week to go until election day, everyone seems to have adapted to big changes to accommodate COVID-19, not to mention the effect of ignoring the fixed election law. More than that, this election has actually been more pleasant than the ones held in normal times.

Let us count the ways.

NO SILLY SEASON. Because it was a snap election, and nobody except John Horgan knew for sure whether it was going to be called, there was very little of the obnoxious pre-election unofficial campaigning and promise making that is normally part of the lead-up to the campaign period.

LACK OF SIGNAGE: While I’m a fan of election signs because they serve a purpose in establishing name recognition for candidates, I haven’t missed the sparsity of signage. There are probably several reasons for what’s going on. One is that it usually takes a couple of weeks between ordering election signs and receiving them, after which they have to be planted. Many candidates weren’t even nominated until a week and a half after Horgan pulled the trigger. The lag in getting signs delivered was evident in Peter Milobar starting out using old signs with “Elect” rather than “Re-elect” on them, and even some NDP candidates had to start out using old “Re-elect John Horgan” signs. Sign planting will, no doubt, continue to increase in the coming week but, in the meantime, the relative lack of signage is a small blessing for independents, who normally don’t put out money for signs at all. And, for those who regard them as visual pollution, it’s a big plus.

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NO DOOR-KNOCKING: The pandemic dictates social distancing, so the usual door-knocking has had to be sacrificed. This is a major change in the usual strategy, because door-knocking remains the tried-and-true method of locking up votes. The wisdom goes that if a candidate offers to shake the hand of a voter on the door step, it’s pretty much a guaranteed vote. Some people like it when candidates or their surrogates come calling; others would rather be left alone. Whichever it is, this campaign is much less frenetic than usual.

PRINTED PROPOGANDA: The candidates and parties are certainly sending it out but my mailbox hasn’t been jammed with pamphlets as it usually is. Again, this might be a function of the lag between ordering them up and getting them delivered, and I can tell you from experience that sorting out pamphlet delivery with Canada Post so they get to the right places isn’t easy. So far, exactly one election piece has showed up in our mailbox — a party-produced brochure for Sadie Hunter and John Horgan. I expect more of them to show up in the coming days but, so far, so good. Oh, and no robo calls yet, either.

EASE OF VOTING: The pandemic has put a new emphasis on options for voting, especially mail-in voting, which is the option I chose despite favoring in-person voting at the polling station. As of Tuesday — the most recent update provided by Elections BC— 680,000 voters had requested mail-in ballots. Compare that with 2017, when 6,517 voted by mail. In Kamloops-South Thompson (46,345 registered voters), 7,965 mail-in packages have been issued; in Kamloops-North Thompson (44,809 registered voters), 5,623 have been sent out. Along with advance voting, in-person voting on election day, and accessible voting, this bodes well for the turnout.

All of these things have made the campaign comparatively painless. What we’re missing is forums. There’s nothing more fun for political addicts than going to a good old town-hall style debate among the hopefuls vying for our support.

However, the media and others have stepped in to provide a replacement in the form of televised, broadcast and social media forums, both at the provincial and local levels, that we can tap into virtually.

As to the election outcome, all polls are pointing to an easy NDP victory over the Liberals, with the Greens likely hanging on to a couple of seats. At the moment, the NDP holds a 12-point edge in the popular vote and look to bring it home with about 55 seats with the Liberals keeping 29 or 30.

Among the possible Liberal victims is Jacki Tegart in Fraser-Nicola, who appears to be trailing NDP first-time candidate Aaron Sumexheltza. The other one to watch is Kamloops-North Thompson, where the pollsters give incumbent Peter Milobar only a one-per-cent lead over Sadie Hunter of the NDP.

It would be too much to say thanks to COVID-19 for this painless election but there’s no question the virus and the snap call have made things easier on voters, when many of us thought they’d make it tougher.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.