Some have noticed that the new gig has some, erm, restrictions on what I can say/publish about politics, which is totally fine & offers a handy excuse to neglect the blog.
BUT I couldn’t let this month-long provincial campaign go by without a non-partisan post begging y’all to give a crap…even if it’s a tiny crap. You know what I mean.
Step One – Vote
Pretty much the LEAST you can do – consider it civic hygiene. Best make sure that you are registered to do it on October 6th. Don’t know which riding you’re in but can remember your postal code? You’re golden. Even if you’re super busy & can’t get to the polling station on E-day you can get a mail-in ballot. Even if you’re away at school you can vote in your home riding or choose your school’s riding. Even if you don’t live in the province anymore you can cast an absentee ballot. Even if you are doing time you can vote from a correctional facility. You see where this is going, right? No excuse.
Step Two – Read
The only thing hotter than a voter is an informed voter. So get your read on, blaze up those GoogleAlerts, spice up your RSS reader & track campaign coverage from multiple outlets. Trevor’s built a fantastic resource on Politwitter that’ll serve up Ontario-only content. He’s also aggregating blog posts that can be organized by province; same for Facebook pages. Bonus points if you check party platforms before deciding which local candidate best represents your values & priorities. Might also be fun to geek out & read past results for a context-refresher.
Step Three – Talk
Don’t get me wrong, FourSquare cafe check-ins, emo Instagram photos & food-related Twitter revelations are FASCINATING. Just wondering if we could mix it up for the next month. Try floating a leader’s campaign promise as a subject of discussion & see where things go. Please note that Step Three is not labelled ‘Speech;’ talking means thoughtful conversations, interactions & respect for other points of view. Godspeed on that one.
Step Four – Help
There are LOADS of gigs with Elections Ontario if you’d like to get involved hands-on. There’s also an Elections Ontario Outreach Team member for each riding who’ll support community events your organization is planning. One of the most satisfying volunteer gigs I’ve ever worked was registering voters (you’d think it was rescuing all those drowning puppies, but no!). Even if volunteers can’t actually get voters registered like in the U.S., you can point them to some great online information, including this post written specifically for new Canadians on Settlement.org or these youth-focused links & posts from Apathy Is Boring.
Thanks for indulging my nagging & good luck muddling through the onslaught of media coverage. Beats the breathless wannabe-L.A. TIFF gossip, right?
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