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Voter education is not for the technologically savvy it’s for everyone!

Nov 01, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
It seems like a large part of the opposition campaign leading up to the next elections will have to incorporate strategic voter education initiatives, to ensure that the electorate is made aware of all the necessary information vital for voter participation.
Especially with GECOM battling the Government for the right to utilize all available communication channels to get their voter education messages across to voters, the opposition campaign will have to ensure it devises strategic communication programmes for reaching the large audience of voters nationwide with simple clear voter education messages.
Even though communication technology continues to rapidly advance and revolutionize the way we communicate, if access to communication technology is limited, so will be the effects of communication. In order to communicate effectively, the sender of a message must utilize the best available or all available communication channels that can be guaranteed to reach the intended target audience.
Voter education is not for the technologically savvy, it is for everyone! Therefore any attempt to place voter education messages exclusively on a website or any other medium that is not easily and readily accessible by all, will most certainly be inimical to the process of educating the voting population.
While some of the traditional media might be more expensive than some forms of new media, it does not mean that they should be discounted and deemed useless.
The fact that in some societies traditional media reach more people than new media, means that regardless of the sometimes prohibitive costs, advertising is still done in these traditional media because after all a key attribute of effective communication is ensuring that messages reach their intended target audience or receivers.
In Guyana, the print media is still very alive and well. Newspapers are still very strong vehicles for disseminating information. Newspapers still manage to reach very large sections of the Guyanese population. Newspapers are so relevant in Guyana there are four dailies that are currently printed.
Whatever is the reasoning behind the Government placing their ads on a website, it certainly cannot justify by any means that such a move will guarantee wide reach and visibility. Forcing GECOM to follow suit is a direct attempt at fertilizing voter ignorance as elections draw nearer.
The return to more traditional face to face interpersonal communication will have to be explored by the opposition should GECOM adhere to the Government’s directive.
Opposition politicians will need to walk the villages of Guyana, recruit and retain competent volunteers who will ensure that apart from communicating their campaign messages, simple clear voter education messages form part of their overall message formulation.
The opposition has its work cut out. The next general elections will test the mettle of the opposition.
If any opposition outfit, be it coalition or otherwise, wants to win, then they must be prepared to work really hard.
Ensuring that voter education is successfully conducted will be in the best interest of the opposition; after all they are the ones who stand to lose much should voter ignorance prevail.
Richard Francois

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