>>1863845The bulk of Ontario voters (probably the same in other parts of the country, but this is the corner I know) vote against someone rather than for someone.
Turnout for this election was low because there were not sufficient objections to vote out John Tory. At least for the marginal voters.
Peñalosa also ran a very unconventional, direct-to-voter campaign with the bulk of his time spent literally traveling through public spaces in the city trying to meet people face-to-face. Such a campaign probably needed 6 to 12 months to mature and probably needed more focus on speaking at meetings of community groups rather than just going for a run through parks. The parks thing would have been good for the final stretch, if he had turned them into planned rallies/marches for his supporters to draw attention.
And yes, we are absolutely fucked as far as voter engagement, because even the elections where people "want to vote against someone" are going to be dominated by the people who actually practiced civil engagement during their younger years.
The next time someone IRL goes, "please stay safe while biking," I'll probably just go off on them like, "if you didn't vote in the municipal election you did nothing to actually help keep me safe from negligent homicide and can FUCK right off with those platitudes." Not that it will help, but I think it will feel cathartic to call out the apathy for what it is.
