Six ways candidates lost my vote

I usually focus on why I vote for someone. This is a post about why I don't.

Since I turned 18, I have voted in six provincial elections, six federal elections, and six municipal elections, as well as a handful of leadership races, nomination contests and plenty of internal elections. I don't miss an opportunity to vote.

I generally do my best to know a little bit about all the candidates, and try to remain open to changing my mind on who I'm voting for. Sometimes I really like a local candidate, even if I'm blasé on their party. Sometimes it's the opposite, and I vote for a mediocre candidate because their party is the one I align with most. Sometimes I ask a friend who they recommend and trust they know more than I do. It really depends on the election.

I try my best to always vote for someone — find a candidate that deserves my support and cast my ballot for them. This post, however, is not about those people. This post is about how a candidate had my support, or at least my interest, and then lost it.

Let the democratic griping commence!

Only eligible voters matter

My first vote was before I even graduated. It was the 2005 provincial election, and all the major candidates came to visit my high school. Being full of teenage enthusiasm and freshly-formed opinions, I prepared a series of questions and approached the candidates. I was not yet 18, but I would be by voting day.

In my mind, I felt I aligned most with one party. Especially in 2005, they were the only one that openly talked about queer issues and as a young queer teen, that was top of mind for me. Their candidate even had a background in education, which added to my enthusiasm.

When I approached the candidate, he was in conversation with one of my teachers. I asked him if I could put a few questions to him, and he agreed. However, when he responded, he didn't talk to me. He gave his answer to the teachers. “Yes, I will support this and my party will fight for these rights,” he told everyone taller than me. He moved on to speaking to someone else before I could ask any follow up questions.

His opponent, on the other hand, spoke with me for a good ten minutes. I asked clarifying questions, and he gave thoughtful answers. He encouraged me to continue asking questions of all the candidates and to make sure everyone I knew got out and voted.

When I got home that day, I told my parents how impressed I was with one candidate, and how disappointed I was in the other. I don't know how they voted, but I suspect they didn't vote for the candidate who ignored me.

The other candidate won.

How could someone ignore such a friendly face?

We’re (not) working on it

This was a candidate whose campaign I had been volunteering on, helping a bit with communications and door knocking. Ever the advocate, I asked him to write a letter of support for lifting the ban on gay men donating blood in Canada. He enthusiastically agreed, and asked his campaign manager to work with me to draft something he could put out.

I never heard from the campaign manager. I sent a draft letter to both of them and waited. A few weeks later, a friend of mine also on the campaign brought it up with the campaign manager, who told them, “we’re not doing that anymore.” I was confused and frustrated, especially since no one had communicated anything to me one way or the other.

About a week later, I ran into the candidate at an event, so I asked him what the status was on my draft. He told me they were still working on it and would put something out shortly. A few more weeks went by, nothing went out, and no one spoke to me about it.

Either he had lied to me, or had no idea his campaign manager had shot it down. Regardless, I stopped working on that campaign. He lost.

If only there had been signs that this was something I actually cared about.

They see me trolling

It was a federal election, and I was feeling at a loss. I had broken with the party I had supported in the last few elections, so my vote was up for grabs.

I was also active on social media, but had not publicized my frustration with the party I had supported previously. This meant that the local candidate had no idea I was considering voting for him. This wouldn’t have been a problem, if he hadn’t been continuously harassing me on Twitter.

See, assuming that my vote was static, he kept attacking me for supporting the party I was no longer supporting, accusing me of being a closet conservative for not voting for his party. This was on several of my posts, mostly about queer issues. “If you actually supported these things, you would vote for us, you’re just a conservative who doesn’t really care or know what you’re doing,” was the basic sentiment. I had never messaged him or tagged him. He was seeking me out to try to get under my skin, assuming I was his rival.

I’ve long-since deleted Twitter so I’m not going to search back and find the exact quotes, but he was incredibly annoying. He also did this to several of my friends, many of whom would also have considered switching votes if he hadn’t been such a troll.

I didn’t vote for him. He finished a distant second.

He’s tweeting about me again!? I’ve never even met this dude.

A good family

I was visiting my folks during a provincial election, and working on a provincial advocacy campaign that gave me a reason to meet with local politicians. I was wandering through the downtown of my hometown and saw a candidate’s office.

I walked inside where a handful of volunteers were working. An older woman greeted me, and asked if she could help. I let her know I was visiting family and hoping to connect with their candidate.

“Are your family good Liberals?”

I furrowed my brow. I have a general idea how my folks might vote, but as a matter of principle I never actually explicitly ask who they voted for. I made an evasive comment about how they’re not as engaged as I am.

“Oh.”

And then she ignored me entirely. She went back to whatever she was doing, and no one else in the office acknowledged me. I awkwardly left.

I ended up setting up a meeting directly with the candidate through email. We had a good chat, and he did win. Technically he didn't lose my vote, since I didn't live in the riding, but after I told my parents the story about visiting his office I’m pretty sure they didn’t vote for him.

I’m the kind of person who tells people when stuff like this happens.

Leading nowhere good

Leadership races are different kind of election, especially when you get to rank your choices. A candidate who takes a hostile approach to their rival’s supporters risks alienating potential down-ballot support.

In this case, my first choice for party leader was a friend of mine. They were unlikely to win, so my down-ballot choices mattered. My second choice was a candidate who appealed to my radical nature, and seemed a strong organizer with a perspective that aligned with what I wanted to see from a leader. Also, as a queer person, I wanted to vote for a queer candidate.

My first and second choices were locked in, and I was still deciding the rest, when she suddenly announced that she endorsed an explicitly transphobic candidate for an upcoming provincial election. She was called out pretty much immediately, which she responded to dismissively and defensively. Her responses vaguely hinted that she didn't know anything about this candidate other than his party’s name, which revealed a surprising shallowness on her part.

I was very displeased. I felt stabbed in the back. I posted something along the lines of, “if you don't understand why people are upset about this you shouldn't lead a national political organization.”

To her credit, she responded. Unfortunately, she responded poorly. She publicly accused me of being a conservative in disguise, being a loyalist to the “establishment” and a sycophant for the previous leader. Days later, she retracted her endorsement of the transphobic guy, but never again communicated with me in any way.

I dropped her off my ballot entirely. She did not even get 6%.

If you’re going to come after trans people as a way to win votes, you’re not going to enjoy my response.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

I had voted for the same party several elections in a row. Granted, that was in large part because I had an exceptional local MP, and I had moved since the last election, but I was leaning the same direction again. That party was performing well overall. Their candidate in my new riding was a local elected official running against a strong incumbent.

Everything seemed fine until the writ dropped. A few signs appeared in the field across from my house for each of the parties. Then the candidate I was leaning towards got out. She not only put out hundreds of signs, she placed them specifically to block the signs of the other candidates. Sandwiched right up against them to block them entirely. It was tacky, and her team kept doing it all over the riding throughout the writ period. Every time I left my house, I had to see waves and waves of plastic choking out the beautiful field and blocking anyone from seeing the other candidate’s names.

I didn’t vote for her. She finished fourth.

I saved a photo of it because it bothered me that much.

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