24.99 per cent. That’s how many eligible voters participated in Thorold’s municipal election last week — the lowest turnout of any city in Niagara.
The number is a stark contrast to some other municipalities in the region. In West Lincoln and Niagara-on-the-Lake, for example, participation rates were much higher: 43.55 and 48 per cent of eligible voters, respectively.
Even though voter turnout was down across the region when compared to 2018, Thorold was the municipality with the least participation from its residents.
Why such apathy? What went wrong?
According to Dr. Nicole Goodman, an associate professor of political science at Brock University, municipal elections generally see a lower turnout when compared with other elections.
“Municipal elections are definitely perceived as a lower salient election,” Goodman says, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “We often see that turnout is high federally and then it goes down provincially, and goes down even more for the local level.”
When analyzing turnout, it is important to look at an election in its proper context.
“Turnout is going to be affected by the issues in a particular election,” says Goodman. “Are there any hot button issues that are driving people out to the polls more than normal? Likewise, are there any hotly contested races? A mayoral race is particularly an important area. If you have two close candidates or multiple candidates running for those positions, you may see a higher turnout.”
This year’s mayoral race was fairly low-stakes. Incumbent Terry Ugulini only had competition from 23-year-old Damon Ford, who came with little to no political experience.
In the race for city council, there were also very few surprises, with most sitting councillors getting re-elected.
This year was also the first year that Thorold offered online voting. 10.23 per cent of voters cast their ballots online, which is almost half of all the voters who participated in this year’s election. According to Goodman this is not surprising.
“We have seen a clear trend in Ontario’s municipal elections becoming digital,” she says. “We also have seen uptake grow among voters. Typically when we see voting modes offered alongside each other, online voting is nine times out of ten the preferred and most used voting mode for the largest group of electors.”
But the online voting process in Thorold was not without hiccups. Many residents received duplicate voter letters and there were also some residents who didn’t even receive a letter at all.
One of them is Carol Reid, who lives in an apartment building off of Albert Street in downtown Thorold.
“There’s 18 units and nobody got [a voter letter],” Reid tells ThoroldToday. “People rely on it. They put it up on their fridge to remind them of voting day. It also tells them where to go to vote and to bring the voter card with them.”
After conferring with a neighbour, Reid called City Hall and was told that this was a common issue affecting apartment buildings in Thorold.
ThoroldToday reached out to City Hall to verify this claim and received the following response:
“During the months leading up to the election, residents were encouraged to log on to voterlookup.ca to confirm they were on the voters list and that all of their personal information was accurate, including their mailing addresses. If a resident had realized they did not receive their voter letter in advance of the election, they would have been encouraged to contact City Hall for assistance updating their information and to ensure they received their letter in time to vote. These individuals would have also been encouraged to visit City Hall or one of the many Help Centres to print out a new letter in advance of the election.”
It remains unclear how exactly City Hall encouraged voters to reach out if they received no personal communication from the city.
Thorold wasn't the only municipality in Ontario with voter list issues.
Every municipality in Ontario gets their voter lists from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), and this information is often out-of-date.
“This has been going on for years,” Goodman says. “Issues with the voter list affect any type of voting mode that is being implemented. If people aren’t getting their voter cards or they’re going to the wrong addresses, of course that is affecting online voting as it would affect mail voting as it would affect paper voting.”
Goodman highlights that Elections Ontario will be taking care of the voter lists starting next year and she hopes that this will bring positive changes.
“If there are issues with the voters list, that can cause issues all the way along the line,” Goodman says. “Ultimately, issues like that, if they have an effect on voter trust and voter confidence, they can affect voter perceptions of local government, they can effect voter perceptions of the local election, and they could maybe affect perceived trust and efficacy in the system itself which is really important.”
In spite of the issues, Goodman think that online voting is here to stay.
“In other countries where there have kind of been hiccups, online voting programs typically get halted or cancelled,” she says. “Here in Ontario, despite the big hiccup we had in 2018, we also had another shock which was the COVID pandemic and I think that has kind of pushed adoption in the other direction.”
So what can the city do to increase participation in the next municipal election?
“I truly believe making as much voter opportunities available as possible,” says Goodman. “I think voting should be available throughout a voting period as opposed to just a few days here and then on election day. I think that’s the most accessible to voters so I would recommend that.”
Goodman also points to a program like Whitby’s ‘Plan Your Vote,' which is a website where Whitby residents could register to vote, find out more about their candidates, and get engaged with the election process.
“That’s a common thing you hear people say: ‘Oh I didn’t know who to vote for, it’s too much work to go to all the web pages,’” Goodman says. “It might be a one-stop shop for all the information that they need.”
At the end of the day, Goodman says that the only way to find out how to engage more Thorold voters is to ask them personally.
“Turnout is going to be contextual, it’s going to be unique in every election,” she says. “I think the best way to find out what is going to work for Thorold is to ask Thorold voters what they want. Ultimately, the voters in each area are going to know what works for them.”
