Incumbents have upper hand in municipal voting booths

With 10 weeks before the municipal election, the competition for the downtown Ward 6 councillor spot has attracted almost a dozen candidates.

At the same time, a handful of wards have short early nomination lists, save for the councillors who already hold the job.

The difference? Ward 6 is not only dense and diverse, but the departure of longtime Coun. Jane Batty means there is a real opening for the position. Nonpartisan municipal elections in Canada are seemingly dictated by an incumbent-take-all rule, with research showing these councillors win 86 per cent of races in major cities.

The newcomer’s choice is either to take on a titan or run in an open ward with a bevy of other hopefuls. There is no rule in Edmonton stipulating candidates must run in wards where they live, which can make the choice strategic.

Ward 3 hopeful David Dodge said he was lobbied to run in Ward 2, which is losing longtime councillor Kim Krushell, who announced her retirement from municipal politics in June. Instead, he’s running in his home ward against one-term councillor Dave Loken.

“I’ve been volunteering in this community for 18 years, starting as a soccer coach, then being a community league president, then eventually president of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues,” he said.

“I have a long, long investment in my community. I thought I might be crazy to turn my back on this and go somewhere else,” Dodge said. He thinks working with local communities on issues such as playgrounds is a good way to gain support and partnership for larger, citywide issues and that as a local resident he’s in a good position to do that work.

Ward 6 hopeful Scott McKeen has worked through both election scenarios. Three years ago, he ran in Ward 7 against incumbent Tony Caterina. McKeen had grown up in the ward, but found people he met through the campaign often asked if he was a resident of the ward — he had to say no.

“I think it really goes to credibility. People want to know you live among them, that you live their problems, their aspirations, their concerns, their issues. I feel much more comfortable” running in my home ward. In the current race, his task is to make his name stand out among the slew of candidates for the downtown ward.

“At the end, all you can do is get up off your butt to meet people and we’re doing things like the blog to get out some of my positions, and that’s all you can do,” he said.

In civic elections where candidates aren’t formally attached to municipal parties, candidates have a huge task in convincing 10,000 people to visit the polls and vote for them.