Regina Votes To Elect Mayor and Council
Today Regina votes to elect a new municipal government and doing so, will become the latest group to hold an election in the middle of a pandemic. Elections are expensive and demand a lot of time away from family and loved ones. However, in the middle of a pandemic, candidates have been forced to adapt their strategies for voter contact hence, allowing them more time to be spent at home with their family and loved ones.
The candidates who will be successful will be those who can master the art of online campaigning. The rise of social media has been essential to electing candidates operating not only on a shoe string budget but for those without name recognition.
Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi was credited for being the first big city mayor or political candidate to successfully use social media to be elected in Canada. While it appears that around half of the candidates running in the general election appear to be utilizing social media, the other half have opted for traditional door knocking and canvassing.
Knocking on doors has always been an important method of connecting with voters, but it can have its downsides as many are unwilling to conversate with candidates in the middle of the pandemic. This will pose many hurdles for those candidates that have wards with a high senior population.
Putting your name on a ballot is not only courageous, it’s inspiring. Not many people are willing to put themselves out there to have the public scrutinize and question their every move, but some times that is what is needed in order to enact change.
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