It was the longest Canadian federal election in living memory, but we were ready for it.
Since being awarded the Elections Canada contract almost two years ago, Acart’s team has been developing the Ready to Vote campaign that was ubiquitous in your mainstream and social media for the past few weeks. From media and communication strategy to messaging, design concept, testing and production, the campaign took shape in anticipation of the 42nd General Election on October 19th.
Due to changes in the Elections Act, our marketing objective was not to encourage people to vote. Our job was to clearly communicate to those who intended to vote how to do it. This included some complex new voter identification rules.
Voter turnout was massive. 3.6 million people voted in advance polls, a 71% increase over the 2011 election. 70,231 electors registered and voted at Elections Canada’s temporary offices at select campuses, Friendship Centres and community centres, a pilot project new to this election. And the election day turnout of 68.5% was 7% higher than 2011—and the best since 1993!
Post-campaign testing will determine how effective our Ready to Vote campaign really was in educating the electors and making them confident about exercising their voting rights. But for now, we are proud of our role in helping Elections Canada helping our country be Ready to Vote!