Aims to increase voter turnout on October 24th
Guelph, ON – October 19, 2022. Members of Get Involved! Guelph (GIG) are concerned that turnout in next week’s election may be low due to a lack of candidate information. To help fight poor voter engagement, the group has posted a candidate survey of key issues as well as over ten links to recorded forums, surveys and questionnaires conducted by other organizations in the city on its website.
“We’ve noticed that many people in Guelph still don’t know who they are voting for in large measure to not having candidate information readily available,” says Stan Kozak, one of a group of local residents who want to help make it easier to get involved and stay informed.
GIG spent weeks consulting with 50 local experts and community groups to select twelve wide-ranging issues for a survey it sent out to candidates. So far, approximately 55% of candidates have responded.
“This is GIG’s first project,” said Kozak. “We plan to evolve after the election into a group that continues to assist Guelphites by monitoring what happens at City Hall and providing that information to the electorate through the website.”
Get Involved! Guelph recently formed as a non-partisan organization to address a growing “democratic deficit” related to residents being only marginally engaged in the governance of their community. It plans to bridge issues, identify common causes, encourage conversations, and address city-wide concerns with a people-centred approach.
