Valentine’s Day vote garners little love

Less than a 3rd of voters cast ballots in last winter’s Kelowna West byelection

Voter interest in the Feb. 14 Kelowna West byelection was low, with fewer people turning out to cast ballots than in previous local elections.

The byelection was called after former premier Christy Clark resigned as Liberal leader and MLA shortly after NDP Leader John Horgan became premier.

More than half of eligible voters — 55.46 per cent — came out to the polls in Kelowna West in the 2017 general election that resulted in Clark winning 59 per cent of the votes.

However, the byelection to determine her replacement gained the attention of only 31.55 per cent of eligible voters, according to a report released this week by Elections BC.

Voter turnout in February’s byelection was also down from the area’s last byelection in 2013, when MLA Ben Stewart gave up his seat so Clark could run in a byelection after losing her Vancouver seat.

In that byelection, voter turnout was at 40.84 per cent.

Turnout in Westside-Kelowna in the 2013 general election was 47.53 per cent.

While overall voter turnout was down in February’s byelection, advance voting turnout increased in comparison to advance turnout in Kelowna West during the 2017 provincial general election and the 2013 byelection held in Westside-Kelowna.

In the 2013 general election, only 16.5 per cent of Westside-Kelowna voters voted in advance polls.

This number increased to 30.72 per cent in the byelection later that year.

In the 2017 general election, 32.24 per cent of Kelowna West voters voted in the advance polls, increasing to 41.02 per cent of voters in the 2018 byelection.

Stewart won the Feb. 14 byelection for the Liberals with 56.28 per cent of the votes, followed by the New Democrats’ Shelley Cook with 23.51 per cent, Green Robert Stupka with 12.67 per cent, Conservative Mark Thompson with 6.73 per cent and Libertarian Kyle Geronazzo with 0.81 per cent.