Vote in Your Municipal Elections, Dammit!

Democracy is not fragile, but it is susceptible to decay and erosion. Democracy — even local democracy expressed in a town council — is like a houseplant: it needs attention and care to survive. Democracy is everyone’s responsibility: a civic duty to maintain it. Not to participate when you have the opportunity is an antisocial act.

Residents get a chance to give their local democracy (municipal governments) their attention every four years. But in Collingwood in recent elections, less than half of the eligible voters actually voted. Since it was an online vote, and the local library was open for people without an internet connection or who wanted the in-person experience, few — if any — had a valid excuse for not voting. After all, it takes perhaps two minutes at most to do it online (272 Ontario municipalities, or 66%, are using internet voting this year).

And yet, only about 39% of Collingwood’s eligible voters cast their ballot in 2022. That was a mere 8,784 out of a possible 22,142 voters. Yvonne Hamlin won the mayoral race with a mere 15.7% of the total of eligible voters (39% of those who did vote, and barely 800 more than the next candidate).*

So why did so many people (13,358) fail to vote, given how easy and convenient it was? Laziness? Disinterest? Inconvenience? Anti-democracy sentiments? Stupidity? Ignorance? Ennui? Frustration? Couldn’t find enough information about candidates to make a decision? Not enough fucks left to give about the results?

I don’t know why. No one in local media seems to have looked into the reasons, although voter turnout has been dwindling in both municipal and provincial elections for the past decade.**

Collingwood residents who didn’t vote should be ashamed of themselves. No one who didn’t vote should have the right (let alone the gall) to voice an opinion about the record or behaviour of councillors or townhall on social media. And don’t whinge about corruption if you don’t vote. Voting is a privilege we should not abuse or neglect.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) has a report called “Turn up the Turnout,”, which opens with, “Voter turnout is a key indicator in the health of Ontario’s municipal democracies.” In their four-page executive summary, AMO notes (emphasis added),

Voter turnout is the lifeblood of a healthy and vibrant democracy. Yet, in the 2022 municipal elections in Ontario, less than a third of eligible voters participated – a record low.
Municipalities across Ontario recognize this challenge and, in response, have made voting more convenient overall. Despite these efforts, voter turnout at the municipal level has continued to decline. So, what is the solution? How do we motivate people to vote, and how do we address barriers to voting?

While all their suggestions are good and reasonable (and many have already been implemented here), they put the onus on the candidates and municipalities to engage voters. Where is the moral and ethical obligation of voters to participate in elections? Where is the individual’s responsibility to maintain democracy? I suggest Ontario (and Canada, federally), needs a law like Australia’s mandatory voting act, in place since 1984.***

Collingwood deserves a better turnout. Do your part: vote this election. Help maintain local democracy.

Notes:

* As of the time of this writing (eight days after internet voting became available here), only 2,010 votes had been cast in the first week. That’s less than 10% of the total electorate. The flaws in the first-past-the-post voting system are exposed when anyone gets elected with such a small percentage of the electorate. Vote, dammit!

** In 2018, the local turnout was much higher, at 47.5%. Average voter turnout for Ontario’s municipal elections in 2022 was a dismal 32.9%. Oshawa, Kitchener, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, and Brampton all had lower than 25% turnout in 2022. Many Ontario municipalities didn’t even have elections: positions were acclaimed. According to TVO,

In 2022, 548 positions overall were acclaimed with only a single candidate, up from 477 in 2018. There were also 32 entire councils — the mayor and all councillors — acclaimed in 2022, up from 26 in 2018. Overall, 179 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities had at least one position acclaimed in the last cycle.

AMO notes there are 19 municipalities in Ontario where the entire council has been acclaimed in 2026. Inside Halton noted that 104 mayors and heads of council (almost one in four municipalities) were acclaimed. Some 400 of the total 2,800 council positions across Ontario were acclaimed. Yes, acclamations happen every election, and the number has fallen somewhat since the 2018 election, but this seems to me a very high — and troubling — number.

*** The Australian Election Commission notes: “There are currently 32 countries with compulsory voting, of which 19 (including Australia) pursue it through enforcement. 10 of the 30 members of the OECD have compulsory voting.” Canada should be one of those countries.

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