Voter turnout steadily eroding

ON OCT. 22, HAMILTONIANS will head to the polls to elect a mayor and 15 councillors.

OK, some Hamiltonians will head to the polls on Oct. 22. OK, a few Hamiltonians will head to the polls ...

With the exception of a brief uptick in 2010, voter turnout in Hamilton’s municipal elections has been steadily eroding since the city was amalgamated.

In 2000, 42 per cent of Hamilton’s voters turned out, but that proportion dropped to 34 per cent in 2014.

Voter turnout in four of Hamilton’s 15 wards failed to exceed 30 per cent in 2014 and three of those — wards 2, 3 and 4 — have the lowest household income levels in the city.

From Queen Street in the west to the Red Hill valley in the east, from the harbourfront to the edge of the escarpment, fewer than three out of every 10 registered voters cast ballots in the last municipal election.

The lowest voter turnout in 2014 was Flamborough’s Ward 15, where 28 per cent of voters cast their ballots.

Only two wards were above 40 per cent — Dundas’s Ward 13 at nearly 44 per cent and Ward 1 at almost 41 per cent.

In Ward 2’s poll 207 — situated between Main, James, Young and Wellington streets — just 375 of 2,180 registered voters filled out a ballot in the 2014 municipal election, a rate of just 17 per cent.

In four of Ward 3’s polling districts, voter turnout didn’t break the 20 per cent threshold four years ago.

Low voter turnout in the city’s poorest wards have a couple of consequences.

Those residents don’t have the economic power of wealthier parts of the city and they don’t have the same political power to draw on.

“Clearly that contributes to a broken democracy,” said Terry Cooke, president and CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation.

“Increasingly, people who are low income and racialized vote at a significantly lower level, renters lower than owners, older citizens at a higher level than younger,” Cooke said.

“All of those things are adding to the sense of alienation between citizens and the institutions they need accountability from.”

Voter turnout in Hamilton for the 2014 provincial was 51 per cent, similar to the Ontario average while turnout for the 2015 federal election was 67 per cent, the highest rate since 1993.

“Increasingly, people who are low income and racialized vote at a significantly lower level, renters lower than owners, older citizens at a higher level than younger.” TERRY COOKE

CEO, Hamilton Community Foundation