Many voters call this the most dispiriting election in recent memory, for they must choose between uninspiring leaders and undeserving parties with unpersuasive policies.

Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to write off all the options as equally bad. Or to believe that their vote won’t make a difference because the results are somehow preordained.

Easy as it is to argue that elections are a waste of time, a vote is a terrible thing to waste at any time. Especially this time.

First, in our parliamentary system, and with so many close races, it’s hard to predict with certainty which party will win the most seats (a plurality). It’s even harder to predict if they’ll win enough seats to go from a mere plurality to a governing majority.

If the seat count is close in a minority legislature, then the popular vote percentages could be a factor in any final decision as to which party gets to form a government — in which case every ballot will count.

Second, under Ontario’s new election financing rules, all parties will receive a per-vote subsidy, annually, if they receive at least 2 per cent of the ballots cast. That changes the stakes for everyone — and so every ballot will count.

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Beyond those calculations — electoral and financial — there are bigger philosophical questions about what democracy means in Canada today. Before writing a political column, I spent 11 years abroad as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star covering sham elections in countries where people were ready to die for the right to vote.

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It’s hard to come home and hear Canadians say democracy doesn’t change a thing. Or to hear from groups who have only recently won the vote — young adults and new citizens — that they lack information. And it’s hard to fathom why women who struggled for decades to win the vote (enacted only in 1917) would forsake it so fast.

Barely half of Ontarians turn out for provincial elections — making this province Ground Zero for the worst democratic deficit in Canada.

In the 2014 election, the turnout was an abysmal 51 per cent. In 2011, it fell to an all-time low of 48 per cent. By contrast, the provincial turnout peaked at 74 per cent in 1971, when Bill Davis was elected premier.

And yet our provincial government has never been more important in people’s lives.

Whoever becomes premier will be in charge of police enforcement, the legal system, nuclear reactors, cannabis distribution, health care, child care and education. Queen’s Park is a $150-billion operation that is the second-biggest government in Canada.

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Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is framing Thursday’s election as a “stark” choice between her party and Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. The three main party leaders made their pitches to undecided voters on Wednesday. (The Canadian Press)

Recent polling conducted for the Toronto Star and Ryerson University by Campaign Research showed that the biggest single reason given by New Canadians and young Ontarians for not voting was that they think they are ineligible: They haven’t received voting cards in the mail, because they were never added to the electoral list.

But even without those voting cards, any citizen, 18 or older, can show up at a polling station to vote on Thursday, June 7, with proof of residency in their riding, and then cast their ballot on the spot. See the Elections Ontario website for details on identification and location.

The second reason for not voting is that people don’t know enough about the candidates, parties and policies. In which case, please see my Voter’s Guide column published earlier this week highlighting five top campaign issues.

Of course, many other voters say they know enough not to vote: They won’t show up because the politicians don’t measure up, and their promises don’t add up, and so a hex on all their houses and a pox on all their parties.

Some of these disaffected voters still feel a loyalty to democracy, and so will take the trouble to spoil their ballot in protest (by marking it improperly). Others will formally “decline their ballot” — a slightly more focused protest, because it is counted separately as a deliberate abstention (as distinct from a spoiled ballot that might have been marked mistakenly).

But this is splitting hairs while dancing on a protest pin. Yes, it’s preferable to decline rather than spoil a ballot by way of abstention, and both gestures are better than not voting at all — but not by much.

Contrary to mythology, spoiling (or declining) your vote isn’t a vote of confidence in democracy, it’s a misreading of the significance of democracy. Voting isn’t about participating, it’s about deciding — not delegating to others.

Voting isn’t about process but substance. It’s easy enough to criticize, but it’s not good enough on election day.

If none of the options satisfy you, ask yourself which would be the least unsatisfactory. Whether it’s the best of a bad lot, or the least worse option, or an irresistible choice, you alone must choose.

Otherwise, you are abdicating your choice and allowing others to decide for you. There are no do-overs in a democracy (with the possible exception of a minority legislature that leads sooner or later to fresh elections).

If you want to throw the bums out, you can’t just sit it out — you have to vote them out. And if you want to keep another party out of power, you have the power to vote against them.

Be careful who you vote for, and what you wish for. Be mindful that if you don’t, and feel non-voter’s remorse over the results, you’ll have only yourself to blame.