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Less exclusion, more engagement : addressing declining voter turnout in Alberta  Cover Image E-book E-book

Less exclusion, more engagement : addressing declining voter turnout in Alberta / Trevor Harrison & Harvey Krahn.

Summary:

Alberta's record low voter turnout in the 2008 election (40.6 percent) raised considerable concern about the state of democracy in the province. Although turnout rose to 54.4 percent in 2012, over the long-term, voting in Alberta is on a downward trend. This report uses public opinion data collected in 2008 and 2012 by the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta to examine explanations for non-voting in Alberta in 2008, and to profile non-voters in both 2008 and 2012. Non-voters are profiled by gender, age, region (Calgary, Edmonton, and other), education, household income, home ownership, and immigrant status. Concern over voter turnout is not limited to Alberta. Declining turnout is a phenomenon found throughout Canada, both federally and provincially, and in countries throughout the industrialized world. This study compares the responses and demographic characteristics of non-voters in Alberta with what is known about non-voters elsewhere. Reasons for non-voting among Albertans are broadly reflective of the results of previous research. Chief among these explanations are apathy or indifference towards politics in general, or alienation specifically from politics in Alberta. The study also shows that lack of time or inhibiting structural factors (such as difficulty in establishing voter eligibility) contribute to non-voting. The demographic characteristics of Albertan non-voters are similar to those of non-voters in other jurisdictions. Non-voters are often younger, less educated, and more likely to be renters. Unlike in other jurisdictions, however, household income is not a predictor of voting in Alberta. The unusually high incomes earned by some younger and possibly less educated workers in Alberta may explain this finding.

Record details

  • Physical Description: 1 electronic text (iii, 15 pages).
  • Publisher: Edmonton, Alberta : Parkland Institute, 2014.
  • Distributor: Ottawa, Ontario : Canadian Electronic Library, 2014.

Content descriptions

General Note:
"April 2014."
Issued as part of the desLibris documents collection.
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 12-14).
Formatted Contents Note:
Executive summary -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Non-voting: what previous research tells us -- 3. Non-voting: what Albertans tell us -- 4. A profile of non-voters: what previous research tells us -- 5. A profile of non-voters in Alberta: what the 2008 and 2012 Alberta surveys tell us -- 6. Conclusions and recommendations -- References -- Appendix 1. Research design, sample characteristics, and measurement.
System Details Note:
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject: Voter turnout > Alberta.
Alberta
Culture
Election
Evaluation methods
Government
Human activities
Immigration
Politics
Public sphere
Survey methodology
Genre: Electronic books.

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