Helping disadvantaged to vote a step toward reducing poverty

The poor are numerous and can affect outcomes, writes

Last Saturday, with many other fellow Calgarians, I went to my local library and voted in our municipal election advance poll.

I have always felt that this is a fundamental responsibility for each of us as citizens. And yet we know that in recent memory, 39 to 53 per cent of Calgarians exercised this vital act as citizens — so at our best, only half of our city’s eligible voters bothered to vote.

Pericles, a statesman, orator and general in Athens, more than 2,500 years ago, said, “We do not say that a man who takes no interest in public affairs is a man who minds his own business. We say he has no business being here at all.”

Even in those early days in the evolution of democratic principles, there was a recognition that we need to be informed and engaged in our government. One important action is to vote. In the act of casting our ballot, we affirm our citizenship, our commitment to our community and to our neighbours.

The opening words of Enough for All — Calgary’s poverty reduction strategy — are “our neighbour’s strength is our strength.” Conversely, our neighbour’s weakness and omissions are my weakness and omissions. When we vote, we affirm our commitment to ourselves and to our community. The very act strengthens and helps to increase our connection to our neighbour. Our failure to get out and vote weakens our entire community.

We know that one in 10 Calgarians is living in scarcity: they don’t have enough income to meet their basic needs. We estimate that at least one in four are working poor: they are earning less than a living wage and thus also struggle each day to meet their housing, food and transportation needs.

Calgary’s downturn in the economy, with an unemployment rate of more than eight per cent, is placing greater pressure on our social safety net.

Poverty Talks — a group of folks at Vibrant Communities Calgary living in poverty on a fixed income — keeps reminding us of the marginalization and powerlessness that they experience on a daily basis. They worry about whether they will have housing, food, transportation and other basic needs.

It is not much better for the working poor who are earning the minimum wage. They too have to continually make tradeoffs between whether they pay their rent or buy food or other basic needs. They are our fellow Calgarians.

There is data that demonstrates that for our poor, faced with the priorities of daily survival, voting is a “nice-to-do,” rather than a “need to do.”

Ironically, given their large number, if the poor got out and cast their vote, they could decide who will govern our city and influence policies to reduce poverty in Calgary. And at the same time, it would reaffirm their citizenship and begin to lessen their marginalization and powerlessness.

So what can be done in these final days of the 2017 municipal campaign? First and foremost, we encourage each member of the Enough for All community to get out and vote on Monday. We are also asking the hundreds of front-line volunteers and staff who are daily supporting the poor in our community to remind the people they serve to get out to vote.

Elections Calgary provides a wealth of information. Share that information with the people you are serving: the location of their polls and times for voting. When possible, offer to assist to get them to their polling station.

It seems so simple, yet we are not doing it. It is not too late. Start today. By assisting people get out to vote, you will be helping to reduce poverty.