Low turnout for Hamilton Centre advance polls
Numbers way down from June election
The byelection to fill the provincial seat in Hamilton Centre left vacant by mayor and former NDP leader Andrea Horwath hasn’t generated the same kind of voter interest as the 2022 election.
Less than half the number of advanced poll voters have cast ballots compared to the general election in June, according to Elections Ontario.
Some 5.2 per cent of eligible voters have cast advanced ballots — or 4,166 voters — compared to 11 per cent (8,535 voters) in June.
The riding, which Horwath has held since 2004, has historically had the city’s worst voter turnouts.
In June, only 37 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, the lowest of any riding in the city. In 2018, nearly 49 per cent of voters showed up at polling stations.
After winning the seat again in the June election, Horwath vacated the position to run for mayor — which she won in the October municipal election.
The NDP flag in the byelection is being carried by Sarah Jama, cofounder and executive director of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario.
Jama is running against Ontario Liberal Party candidate and Spectator columnist Deirdre Pike, and police sergeant Peter Wiesner, who is running for the Tories.
The Green Party of Ontario candidate is Lucia Iannantuono.
The remainder of the 10-candidate field includes Peter House of the Electoral Reform Party, independent candidates Matthew Lingard, Nathalie Xian Yi Yan and John Turmel, Libertarian hopeful Mark Snow and Lee Weiss Vassor of the New Blue Party.
Elections Ontario says special ballots can still be cast at returning offices until Wednesday at 6 p.m. Regular polling stations open in the riding for election day on Thursday.
More information on where to vote can be found at the Elections Ontario website at www.elections.on.ca.