First Time Voters

by John Laforet
posted on July 18th, 2008 at 15:26:27 pm

One of the most touching parts of any campaign is the personal interaction with your neighbours. While canvassing in a lower income part of the ward, I met a man who had been a citizen for just three weeks. He was very excited about the upcoming election, and so happy that I had come to see him to introduce myself. I was the first candidate he’d met in Canada. I thought that was pretty cool, and I think he did too. We spoke at length and at the end of our conversation, after telling me about his own very impressive involvement in India  he promised me his first vote in Canada would be for me.

A feeling nearly as gratifying as speaking to a first time voter, is speaking to someone who has given up on politicians, but was refreshed by my style and the fact I don’t fit the “mould”. I met many people like this while campaigning. I often got frustrated and extremely frank with my views on their approach to civic involvement. In some cases it would be enough to convince them.

I met three people in a community housing building on a hot day in the summer. They were sitting in a small apartment, having a refreshment when I knocked on their door. I was invited in, at first I think just for a laugh, but as we spoke, the conversation changed to their reasons for not voting instead of why I was to be the solver of all things bad, I touched one of them. He had not voted in over a decade, and articulated his disappointment with politicians in a way that was hard to argue with. I told him the race would be close, and it would be votes like his that could be the deciding factor. I added that should I break my word to him or not do a good enough job for him, he could go back to not voting next time and say “told ya so”.

He told me that if he was left to vote on his own, he wouldn’t, but if we came and got him and took him to the polls he would gladly cast a ballot. So we did. On the first day of the in ward advanced poll, I showed up at his door and went upstairs to bring him down, and together we went to the polling station and talked about the other positions he’d be asked to vote for as well. He gave me the energy to go on for hours that day, pulling others and sharing his story as a reason why they too should vote.

You may need to experience theses conversations from the prospective of a candidate to really understand, I don’t know.  What felt really good about it, at least for me, was knowing that the issues I was determined to tackle touched somebody else enough to get out and vote. I have something in common with the man I met who’d been a citizen for three weeks, we care about the same things, and voted for the same candidate in the 2006 municipal election, when each of us was eligible to vote municipally for the first time. (Yes, I did in fact run for Toronto City Council at the first legal opportunity.) To me at least, finding someone who would place their confidence in you, particularly when they were not a seasoned voter was a strong statement, better than any endorsement from any organization, because it came from the kind of people who should matter most in politics. While some reporters were fascinated with “Laforet, 20″ as a way to describe me, it really did not seem to matter to many of the previously apathetic and perhaps that is what also helped me develop a bond with people who have similar stories as those who I met and saw vote for the first time in either a long time, or ever. 

Tags: New Voters, Scarborough, Ward 43