WELLINGTON COUNTY – Voter turnout was down across Wellington County for Monday's municipal election.
Based on data provided by clerks and municipal websites, none of the seven municipalities cracked the 40 per cent of eligible voters mark in this election.
In Centre Wellington, this election’s turnout worked out to be 39 per cent or 9,130 of 23,253 eligible voters. This is down from 43 per cent in 2018 and 45 per cent in 2014.
The Township of Wellington North saw a dip too with 3,121 of 8,557 casting a vote, a 36 per cent return rate compared to 43 per cent in 2018.
There was a smaller drop in the percentage of eligible voters casting their ballot in Erin this year. A greater number of people voted in this election — 3,363 voters of 9,313 eligible — but this worked out to be 36 per cent whereas it was 37 per cent in 2018.
Centre Wellington, Wellington North and Erin each had a mayoral race.
Meanwhile in Puslinch, Mapleton, Minto and Guelph/Eramosa where each had an acclaimed mayor, voter turnout saw bigger drops over 2018 when each had a mayoral race.
Julie Simmons, a political science associate professor at the U of G, said this likely had an impact in people's willingness to go out and vote.
"That means that the person who has the highest profile at the municipal level has already been determined, and therefore, the impact of taking the time and satisfying the time and setting aside the time to go vote is less than it might otherwise be," Simmons said. "For rational thinking individuals, they might consider it not an efficient use of their time to vote."
With the Town of Minto’s entire seven person council being acclaimed and votes only going towards school board trustees and a county council position, the turnout was about 28 per cent or 1,805 of 6,511 eligible voters. This was down significantly from 2018 where there was a 52 per cent turnout.
Guelph/Eramosa also saw a big drop in participation from electorates. The township saw 2,946 of 10,440 people cast their vote, representing 28 per cent whereas 2018 saw a 44 per cent turnout.
Puslinch also saw less people voting with just 22 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballot which worked out to 1,471 of 6,485 voters. The return rate was 37 per cent in 2018.
Mapleton had a small dip to 26 per cent, or 1,851 out of 7,034 eligible voters participating this year compared to 30 per cent in 2018.
- With files from Taylor Pace
