Uncertainty of P.E.I. election timing a challenge, say referendum campaigners

The two registered groups trying to persuade Islanders how to vote on electoral reform say they're having a tough time figuring out when and how to best spend the advertising money the province has handed them. 

No What to Vote and Vote Yes P.E.I. were each given $75,000 earlier in February to spend on campaigning ahead of the referendum on electoral reform. 

The referendum vote will happen at the same time as the election, which hasn't yet been called but is expected soon.

Islanders will be asked if they want to change the current voting system of first-past-the-post to a proportional system called mixed-member proportional. 

'Really hard to decide'

"You don't want to spend half your budget if you've got seven or eight more weeks [until the referendum]. But if you've only got four, maybe you do want to have spent half," said Brenda Oslawsky with Vote Yes P.E.I., the group pushing for electoral reform.  

"But that's really hard to decide. At one point, they were saying there's a possibility it could be a fall election. It really does make it a bit of a nightmare." 

A lot of people are uninformed. They're not really sure what the referendum is about.— John Barrett

John Barrett with No What to Vote, which is advocating for the status quo, agrees the uncertainty around the election has made advertising a challenging. 

"I think we would prefer to finally have an end date in sight," said Barrett. "It's difficult to budget your expenditures if you're still in that period of time when you know the election could be any time between now and October."

'Competing for the ear of the voter' 

Both campaigns said they have spent less than half of their $75,000 so far. 

Barrett said on the no side, much of that has gone to campaign signs in Charlottetown and pamphlets mailed out to households Island-wide The campaign has also set up a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. 

Oslawsky said while the yes side has focused primarily on what it calls an "aggressive social media campaign," it has signs ordered and is planning to run television, radio and print ads before the end of March. 

Both sides said they are hoping to get their messages to Islanders before the election is called. 

"We are concerned it will be difficult to make ourselves heard and visible and engage with the public once the election campaign is on," said Oslawsky.

"We don't want to get lost in the various issues that will come forward during the provincial election," added Barrett. "So that's why we got some of our message out in advance. We realize we're going to be competing for the ear of the voter during the provincial election."

'Surprised' by low interest

So far both sides acknowledge their campaigns don't appear to engaging as many Islanders as they hoped. 

The yes and no campaigns' Twitter accounts each had fewer than 150 followers as of Tuesday evening. 

I thought there'd be more interest.— Gerard Mitchell, P.E.I. Referendum Commissioner

"I guess I've been somewhat surprised. A lot of people are uninformed. They're not really sure what the referendum is about," said Barrett. 

P.E.I.'s Referendum Commissioner Gerard Mitchell said he's held 19 information meetings across the province since January in an effort to educate Islanders about the voting system currently used and the proposed alternative.

But he said few Islanders attended.  

"The engagement level, the turnout level has been poor in my opinion," he said. "We've only had 80 in Charlottetown, the largest municipality in the province. In some places we've had as low as two and four people, and all the way in between ... I thought there'd be more interest."

Mitchell and both campaigns said the hope Islanders will become more engaged once the election is actually called, and Islanders know for certain when they will be voting on electoral reform. 

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