Only 22.4 per cent of eligible voters — or one in five people — turned out for this year’s municipal election, which is a drop compared to previous election years.
City hall released the official numbers for the 2020 municipal election on Nov. 13, which showed how many people voted for the mayor and the six city councillors.
The total number of ballots cast was 5,919, with 12 ballots blank voted and 93 ballots over voted, leaving 5,814 legitimate ballots. The municipality had estimated there were 25,900 eligible voters this year.
Fraser Tolmie was elected mayor with 3,189 votes, while John Kot received 2,316 votes and Nancy Nash received 287 votes.
For city council, Jamey Logan led the way with 3,858 votes, followed by Crystal Froese with 2,913 ballots, Heather Eby with 2,899 votes, Dawn Luhning with 2,686 votes, Kim R. Robinson with 2,195 ballots and Doug Blanc with 2,132 votes. Blanc edged out seventh-place finisher Joni Brisbin by 17 votes.
According to city hall, the voter turnout of 22.4 per cent is the lowest in the past four municipal elections. Four years ago, 11,305 voters turned out, representing about 41 per cent of eligible voters.
In 2012, 38 per cent of the electorate voted; 39.6 per cent of voters showed up in 2009; and 42.5 per cent of voters cast a ballot in 2006.
No statement was provided by city hall regarding the low voter turnout.
“The election office does not have any comment as to the low voter turnout,” returning officer Tracy Wittke said by email.
The office plans each election believing that all eligible citizens will show up, while every citizen chooses to vote or not vote, she continued. The election office used many communications methods to ensure residents were kept updated, while the office responded to all public inquiries.
“The positive was that the mail-in ballot process far exceeded the election (office’s) expectations. The advance poll voter turnout was also positive. This was improved by running seven days of advance poll voting with longer hours for the weekday votes,” she added.
The total number of votes cast during the advance polls was 2,074, which was 850 more than the 1,224 advance votes cast in the 2016 municipal election.
More people voted in 2016 because the local improvement plan (LIP) program was a contentious issue, while there was no similar issue this year, Wittke said. She pointed out that voter turnout was low in other Saskatchewan municipalities as well; Moose Jaw’s election office staff will contact those localities to better understand the low turnout.
There were 10 polling stations during the municipal election four years ago, while there were four polling stations this year: one at Church of Our Lady on South Hill and three at the exhibition grounds.
The election office canvassed several places as potential sites, but the responses were mixed, Wittke said. Some places could not guarantee a hall or building; there were accessibility issues at other places; other locations did not want a polling station.
“The election office does not have the authority to close schools for the day to run the municipal and school board elections. In the case of the schools, there are additional security costs and cleaning crew costs to ensure the sanitizing of the schools and the safety of the school staff and children,” she continued.
City hall chose the two polling locations since they were spacious and allowed for adequate physical distancing, while the protection and safety of citizens and poll workers was the utmost priority, Wittke said. She commended the two locations for their assistance during the pandemic.
The municipality had many discussions with both school divisions about the 2020 election since “we are all stewards of the taxpayers’ dollar,” added Wittke. The parties will continue to work together for the 2024 municipal and school board elections.
