Are Ontario voters ready for another election?

Not quite ready for another election? You are likely not the only one.

In May, Canadians voted in a federal election for the fourth time in seven years, and Torontonians voted for municipal representatives last fall. So with the provincial election in October fast approaching, could voters be getting numb to the endless litany of lofty promises and attack ads? And will it keep them from the polls?

Political science professor Robert Young says it's likely -- unless the provincial parties can drum up some exciting new promises they've been keeping under their hats.

"I don't think people are excited about the election at all," said Young, who teaches in the University of Western Ontario's Department of Political Science and holds the Canada Research Chair in Multilevel Governance. "I think we will see a fatigue from the same old messages that we've heard at the federal level for the last several elections."

Young predicts the Ontario Conservatives will mimic their federal counterparts with a campaign focused on key issues such as crime and the economy, while the Liberals will stress two of their favourite issues: health care and education. "But if (NDP Leader Andrea) Horwath catches fire, that could get people excited," Young said.

And if not? Voter turnout could be even lower than the last provincial election, said Young. Ontarians stayed home from the 2007 vote in record numbers -- only 52.6 per cent of the province's 8.4 million eligible voters cast a ballot.

Typically, incumbent governments thrive on low turnouts, as they are most likely to be elected when swing voters stay home, says Ryerson University political science professor Patrice Dutil.

"There are very few people who actually switch, but it's a matter of getting the people out," said Dutil, whose recent book "Canada 1911: The Decisive Election that Shaped the Country" examines voting patterns. "The parties' first priorities are... making sure (their) people turn out or the other (parties' voters) don't."

With a fixed election date that lands this year's vote on Oct. 6, the provincial election machine has been quietly chugging along since sometime in the spring. That the provincial election has been at a constant, low-level hum for months does nothing for its momentum, Dutil told CTVNews.ca.

"This election was called literally four years ago," he said. "People have already made up their minds about how they are going to vote. That seems to be the product of setting deadlines so far ahead."

Clearing the summer haze

The conventional wisdom is that most don't pay attention until well after Labour Day, but according to Democracy Watch founder Duff Conacher, the summer haze often extends much later.

"Because it's such a long (summer) period... the percentage of voters really paying attention, or remembering what was in the advertising before the summer is really small," said Conacher, whose Ottawa-based group advocates for democratic reform and government accountability.

While comfortable with the idea of fixed election dates, his group is pushing for the provincial vote to be moved to the fourth Monday of October. In a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca, he said the later date would give families and students more time to get engaged with the campaign.

"People (who) come out of Labour Day with one or two kids starting school spend the first two to three weeks getting their kids into their fall schedule. The election then happens a week later and they haven't had any time to read a newspaper, read a platform or go to a candidates' debate," he said. "It's way too early."

Conacher noted that many students who move to a new riding for school find themselves ineligible to vote as they don't have enough identification to prove their new address.

"People say they're so worried about youth but we're shutting out a large group of people with this early date," he said.

That said, Conacher believes the best way to reduce voter apathy is through electoral reform. That means creating a system where people are less likely to feel that their votes don't matter. He says studies show voters are interested in a proportional system if done right, and believes changes such as stronger political ethics laws would help voters trust their representatives, making them more likely to engage in politics.

Further, Conacher accused Elections Ontario of failing to inform voters of the one way they can actively voice their dissatisfaction with the system -- by declining their ballot. Declined ballots are counted separately from spoiled ballots, and allow voters to show their disagreement instead of being counted in the same column as the people who simply made a mistake.

"It's a responsible thing to do to go to the polls and decline your ballot," he said. "Nobody knows why you spoiled your ballot -- you could just be stupid and not able to mark your ‘x' properly.

"It's a way to increase voter turnout... I think at least five per cent of voters would do that because they don't think the parties take their issues seriously, or they think the whole system sucks."