One of the main pillars of democracy is faith in the electoral system. A second is trust in the institution to ensure all votes are counted properly to determine the rightful victor. Unfortunately it's getting harder and harder today to deny that "results denialism," a phenomenon once only observed much in third world countries or those with authoritarian regimes, has made its way to the west.Accepting the outcome of an election when "your side" loses is integral to the survival of democracy, but in recent years it has become the default position of many whose preferred party loses to simply cry foul, with or without evidence to back up their claims."Rigged!" "Stolen!" "Illegitimate!"These are serious allegations that should only be made with serious proof of wrongdoing. Bandying those terms about is akin to the left calling everything "racist." Could there be discrepancies in the results? Of course; to deny the possibility is just as dangerous. But to immediately jump to conclusions with zero evidence? That's a recipe for disaster.Here in BC, we're privileged to live with a robust, secure democratic system that has safeguarded our right to vote for decades. Even if there were discrepancies, they would almost certainly involve a vote here or there, nothing near enough to influence the outcome of an entire election.To be sure, BC voters have had to wait a long time to find out the results of the provincial election. But, that's not new. A similar situation played out in 2017. Back then however, people simply followed the process, waiting patiently as every ballot was counted. When the final tallies were announced, that was that. The winners and losers shook hands and moved on.This time around? The BC Conservatives put up one hell of a fight, going from a grassroots party full of political newcomers to winning 44 seats and giving the established NDP a run for their money. As soon as Final Count began and it appeared as though the BC NDP would gain the lion's share of the additional votes however, it was surprising how many people began sharing messages containing the aforementioned terms on social media.Was any evidence provided? No, of course not.So what happened to us between 2017 and 2024? Certain events took place that in one way or another caused a certain number of people to lose trust in non-partisan institutions. Responses by those who felt as though there was a concerted effort to keep their candidate of choice out of power varied; some protested peacefully while others resorted to violence. While I still firmly believe Canadians are far too nice and civil to storm Parliament Hill in Ottawa or the Legislature in Victoria, there is no doubt in my mind that in recent years, the seeds of election denialism were planted north of the 49th parallel, and that we are now seeing them sprout.Here in BC, party leaders John Rustad, David Eby and Sonia Furstenau all made a point of saying in no uncertain terms that they trusted the process and accepted the results of the election. Also many of the voters who expressed unfounded doubt online were called out by other users. Will that be enough to nip the problem in the bud, or does more need to be done to root out election denialism in our society? Which direction we go from here is up to us, but it's clear that this is a phenomenon we ignore at our peril…
One of the main pillars of democracy is faith in the electoral system. A second is trust in the institution to ensure all votes are counted properly to determine the rightful victor. Unfortunately it's getting harder and harder today to deny that "results denialism," a phenomenon once only observed much in third world countries or those with authoritarian regimes, has made its way to the west.Accepting the outcome of an election when "your side" loses is integral to the survival of democracy, but in recent years it has become the default position of many whose preferred party loses to simply cry foul, with or without evidence to back up their claims."Rigged!" "Stolen!" "Illegitimate!"These are serious allegations that should only be made with serious proof of wrongdoing. Bandying those terms about is akin to the left calling everything "racist." Could there be discrepancies in the results? Of course; to deny the possibility is just as dangerous. But to immediately jump to conclusions with zero evidence? That's a recipe for disaster.Here in BC, we're privileged to live with a robust, secure democratic system that has safeguarded our right to vote for decades. Even if there were discrepancies, they would almost certainly involve a vote here or there, nothing near enough to influence the outcome of an entire election.To be sure, BC voters have had to wait a long time to find out the results of the provincial election. But, that's not new. A similar situation played out in 2017. Back then however, people simply followed the process, waiting patiently as every ballot was counted. When the final tallies were announced, that was that. The winners and losers shook hands and moved on.This time around? The BC Conservatives put up one hell of a fight, going from a grassroots party full of political newcomers to winning 44 seats and giving the established NDP a run for their money. As soon as Final Count began and it appeared as though the BC NDP would gain the lion's share of the additional votes however, it was surprising how many people began sharing messages containing the aforementioned terms on social media.Was any evidence provided? No, of course not.So what happened to us between 2017 and 2024? Certain events took place that in one way or another caused a certain number of people to lose trust in non-partisan institutions. Responses by those who felt as though there was a concerted effort to keep their candidate of choice out of power varied; some protested peacefully while others resorted to violence. While I still firmly believe Canadians are far too nice and civil to storm Parliament Hill in Ottawa or the Legislature in Victoria, there is no doubt in my mind that in recent years, the seeds of election denialism were planted north of the 49th parallel, and that we are now seeing them sprout.Here in BC, party leaders John Rustad, David Eby and Sonia Furstenau all made a point of saying in no uncertain terms that they trusted the process and accepted the results of the election. Also many of the voters who expressed unfounded doubt online were called out by other users. Will that be enough to nip the problem in the bud, or does more need to be done to root out election denialism in our society? Which direction we go from here is up to us, but it's clear that this is a phenomenon we ignore at our peril…
