Susan Ladner’s letter in the June 16 edition presented one way of using figures to support a conclusion: using the number of votes cast for the Liberals in the provincial election with the number of eligible voters to provide a 25 per cent support for the Liberals.
But there is another way to look at these figures. According to Elections B.C., 61.5 per cent of registered voters actually voted. One could argue that the remaining 38.5 per cent of registered voters didn’t vote because they were satisfied with the Liberal government and didn’t see a need for change and therefore no need to vote. After all, if you really want change, you’ll get out and vote, right?
Now add that 38.5 per cent to the 40.36 per cent of votes cast for Liberals in the election, and you get support for the Liberal government at 78.86 per cent of registered voters. The actual election results, according to figures based on data from Elections B.C. and published by the Canadian Press in late May, showed that of those who took the time to exercise the privilege of voting, 59.64 per cent voted for someone other than a Liberal.
The results show us, as I see it, that complacency can have a greater impact on voting results that activism.
Larry Gilchrist
Vernon