One of the things I am most concerned about with the upcoming municipal election has nothing to do with the candidates who will register over the next few months, nor the many issues those candidates will grapple with during the campaign period. My major concern is whether voters will actually cast ballots on October 26.
Voter participation in the last municipal election, held in 2022, was abysmal, not just in Meaford, but across the province.
In this municipality we elected our council in 2022 with just 36.77 percent of Meaford’s eligible voters casting ballots, which as awful as it was, it was still higher than the province-wide turnout of 36.3 percent, the worst voter turnout for municipal elections in Ontario since the early 1980s.
The decline in voter participation has been steady over the past decade. In 2014, 50.09 percent of eligible voters in the Municipality cast ballots, and that dropped to 43.84 percent in 2018, and then as mentioned, just 36.77 in 2022.
I, like many, don’t believe that such low voter participation is healthy for democracy.
In 2014 and 2018 the Municipality of Meaford used telephone and internet voting methods, while in 2022 we saw in-person voting and mail-in ballots used. For the 2026 municipal election Meaford is returning to telephone and internet voting which I hope might boost participation at least to the mid 40s as we saw in 2018, but I don’t think voting methods is the sole reason for recent declines in voter participation.
The theories for the decline in voter participation in municipal elections in Ontario are many. Some suggest that we don’t feel as connected to our communities as we once did. Others suggest that we might see voter participation increase if we were to introduce political parties to our municipal elections. I have also read that municipal governance, which is often packed with zoning amendments, infrastructure planning, development proposals, and municipal budgeting, just isn’t sexy in today’s world – many find it boring, as important as it might be.
While I am inclined to drum up theories of my own, I prefer leave the potential reasons for the steady decline in municipal voter turnout to the experts, though the experts also seem to be scratching their heads when it comes to voter engagement at the municipal level.
Some suggest that without quality candidates voters just aren’t interested, but in Meaford, and I suspect elsewhere, we have had some fine candidates in recent elections yet we have still seen voter participation decline to depressing levels.
With all of the complaints that I regularly hear directly from residents, or read on local social media pages, I have found myself surprised after previous elections by the very low voter participation. In today’s world it seems that we read and hear a lot of bluster on social media from folks who don’t take advantage of the opportunity to actually vote for candidates that might work to solve some of the issues they complain about on social media.
That said, when it comes to candidates, what I have noticed over my more than three decades of sitting in council chambers in three different municipalities is that today’s candidates often seem to come out of nowhere with little in the way of previous community involvement. Many candidates are relatively unknown to their community until they toss their name into the ring for a municipal election. Candidates used to build a resume of community involvement, they established a track record of volunteering, and they saw service to community as a way to become known in the community before they ever put their name on a ballot.
Exposure can be key in municipal elections, but in today’s world many candidates try to build that exposure through social media as that is where the eyeballs are these days, but call me old school, I still believe that there is no better way for a candidate to grow a public profile than through service to their community for years prior to seeking votes; you know, actually being out in the community talking to residents, learning from friends and neighbours.
Sorry to burst some bubbles, but complaining on social media is not a good substitute for voting, or for engaging in the municipal process outside of election years, just as it isn’t overly useful for candidates attempting to build a track record of action in your community. Democracy takes effort, it takes real work from candidates to voters, it requires some effort.
Speaking of candidates, election day is roughly five months away, and while I had expected an initial surge of candidate registrations once the nomination period opened on Friday, May 1, so far we have just one candidate registered for the mayor’s position, and two for a regular council seat. We’re just three weeks into the nomination period, and we could of course see a swelling of the candidate roster in the short term, or candidates could trickle in between now and the closing of the nomination period on August 21.
It is important to have a slate of good candidates from which voters can choose, that can certainly help with capturing the interest of voters, and that might help increase voter participation.
There is no shortage of issues for candidates and voters to debate. From managing the growth of this municipality, to the contentious pumped storage proposal, to the always important roads and bridges, along with increasing demand for municipal services and leisure and athletic opportunities for youth and adults alike, there is plenty to debate during this election campaign.
I am hopeful that we will see increased voter participation in October’s municipal election, but I think it will depend upon the number and quality of the candidates, and whether eligible voters can pry their eyeballs away from social media, and use that energy to learn about the candidates and to actually cast a ballot.
