11.08.2009

Voter Turnout Numbers

On Friday, city hall released the voter turnout numbers broken down by ward. Here they are, cut and pasted onto our blog for your reading pleasure.
Ward 1. . . . . 28.59%
Ward 2. . . . . 30.89%
Ward 3. . . . . 22.37%
Ward 4. . . . . 25.44%
Ward 5. . . . . 21.17%
Ward 6. . . . . 13.98%
Ward 7. . . . . 21.80%
Ward 8. . . . . 21.22%
Ward 9. . . . . 22.82%
Ward 10. . . . 31.46%
Overall. . . . 24.97% (based on mayoral race)
So I'm reading through this and the first thing I find myself thinking is, "Wow, look at Ward 10. 31 per cent voter turnout. Not bad." And then, I'm like, wait a second... 31 per cent voter turnout is bad. It's very bad. The only reason it doesn't look so bad is because you have wards like mine, Ward 3, that can only muster a paltry 22 per cent. Seems all you have to do to get one in three people out to vote is get a Roughrider to put on a show.

(That was not, for the record, a shot at Councillor Szarka, who at least bothered to run for election. Nor at Ward 10 voters, who at least bothered to vote. Or rather, not a shot at the 30 per cent of them who bothered to vote.)

Compared with the 2006 election, voter turnout dropped in all wards, on average by 12 per cent, with the biggest plunge coming in Ward 1 with a 15 per cent decline and the smallest in Ward 6 where turnout only dropped by eight per cent.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Wow... the only other wards that had much of a turn out were 1 and 2 (and by much I mean about 30%). These were also some of the closest races, I believe (close to 50/50 split between the candidates). Imagine if more people would have taken part in the privilege of democracy!