BC Lottery to Increase Voter Turnout
We know how well the British Columbia Government implements new lotteries. Remember their Play Now debacle? Well a BC Politician is proposing a new lottery to increase voter turnout for provincial elections.
Liberal leadership candidate Mike de Jong is said to be open to an idea where the Government would implement a lottery for everyone who votes in the Provincial election. One hundred winning voters would be exempt from paying taxes for one year.
In BC, only 51% of eligible voters come out to mark their X at the ballot box. De Jong told the Vancouver Sun, “The government that I’m serving in was elected by the equivalent of 22 or 23 per cent of the eligible voter population,” said de Jong. “To my mind, that’s not good enough.”
De Jong’s other idea to increase voter turnout is to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 years old. If that measure passes, I’m looking forward to the first politician who promises real toilet paper in school bathrooms and 4 Loko in the drinking fountains.
A democracy needs voters and a lottery sounds a lot better than what they do in Australia and Argentina, where voters must go to the polls otherwise face fines and an appearance in front of a judge.
I’m a huge fan of not paying taxes and I always vote in every election, so proposition could work.
However, the BC Government should probably outsource the lottery duties to someone other the BC Lottery Corp. BC Lotto known for their high juice multiple selection parlays could require winners to hit a provincial parlay where you correctly vote for the Member of Parliament and the Premier otherwise your ticket doesn’t cash in or worse you pay double taxes.
