It was a late summer election, held in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, with no campus or nursing home polling. Predictions that there would be low voter turnout to the polls for Monday’s election were reasonable, to say the least. But it turns out they were wrong.
Figures from Elections NB show that almost the same number of ballots were cast this time in Memramcook-Tantramar as in the 2018 election.
8,244 votes were counted this time, seven more than in 2018.
There were similar results province-wide. 376,903 ballots were cast in this election. The turnout rate was 66.14%, just ever-so-slightly below the rate from 2018, 66.4%.
Memramcook-Tantramar’s turnout rate was slightly above the provincial average, at 70.18%.
Province-wide, voter turnout has declined significantly since 1991, the same year that the number of MLAs was reduced by three.
In 1991, voter turnout was 80.12%. In 1995, with three fewer seats, it was down to 74.89%.
The number of seats in the legislature dropped again in 2014, and so did voter turnout. In 2010, there were 55 MLAs in the house and 69.56% of eligible voters cast a ballot.
In 2014, there were only 49 MLAs in the house, and voter turnout took another 5% hit, down to 64.65%.
Of course, a variety of factors have changed over time between 1991 and today, including number of polling stations, weather, personal choices and attitudes, and the competitiveness of candidates, among other things. Researchers have also identified patterns in voter turnout according to demographics such as age and education.
