Clearly, the public advertising and outreach campaigns of Elections Canada have not worked. Since they came into effect, voter turnout has actually plummeted. The problem is even more persistent among the groups that the campaigns purport to help.
I did some research into some of the practical obstacles to voting that exist in Canada and found that many of them are very practical. Of non-voters, 60% say that everyday issues got in the way of their casting a ballot. Those include everything from being out of town on election day to being too busy to cast a ballot. Those are two problems that can easily be solved with advance voting.
The problem is that half of young people are not aware that they can vote in advance of election day. This number rises to three-quarters when you talk about aboriginal youth. As a result, we need to advertise those basics of voting, where, when, and what ID to bring, and what special tools are available to help the disabled cast a ballot.