Apathy, lack of engagement likely factors in Winnipeg's 37% election turnout, Winnipeggers say

Scott Gillingham and his supporters celebrated their victory in Winnipeg's civic election on Wednesday night, but the mayor-elect will take office with the support of the smallest share of the electorate in decades.

Just 37 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, and of those, only 27 per cent voted for Gillingham. That means he received the support of only about 10 per cent of Winnipeg's electorate.

"It's disappointing, but I think that it's hard to get the younger generation engaged, so I don't know if there are ways that we can try to get more people out to vote," said Mandi Siddiqui, who voted in the election.

Despite arecord 41,895 votes being cast in advanced polls, the turnout rate in this year's election was the lowest since 1989, when 34 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

A lack of engagement played a role for some who decided not to vote.

"I struggle with nihilism," Davina Rose said, laughing.

Rose, who lives with her brothers and father, said nobody in her household voted.

"You see so much political development, but not much changing," she said. "Don't get me wrong, I see small changes, I see small contributions, and they all do count but there needs to be some big ones."

Marvin Tanasychuk said he regularly votes in provincial and federal elections, but this year's municipal election just didn't interest him.

"I think it's sad.I am part of that problem, not voting," Tanasychuk said.

"I travel, I go to Asia, to do volunteer work in Nepal and a lot of countries around the world don't have the right to vote. So I think as Canadians we should vote, because it's our civic duty, and it's democracy in action."

As for this year's civic election,"perhaps it's apathy," he said.

WATCH | Winnipeggers talk about why they did, or did not, vote:

Winnipeg's low election turnout

2 years ago

Duration 1:53

Scott Gillingham and his supporters celebrated their victory in Winnipeg's civic election on Wednesday night, but the mayor-elect will take office with the support of the smallest share of the electorate in recent memory.

The perception that one candidate may have had a lock on the mayoral race might have also deterred voters, said University of Manitoba political professor Christopher Adams.

Opinion polls consistently showed Glen Murray with a commanding lead over Gillingham.

The earliest poll in the campaign, released in the middle of summer,gave Murray a seemingly insurmountable lead, with 44 per cent of decided voters saying they favoured him28 points ahead of Gillingham, who sat in second place.

"One thing that really does increase voter turnout is when people feel that their vote has an impact. And I think maybe some voters just assumed that GlenMurray would win this election," Adams said.

A lack of engagement with local news, cold weather and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are other possible factors, he said.

With such a small slice of the electorate having voted for the winner, Gillingham will have to tread carefully when pushing ahead with his agenda, which includes a 3.5 per cent property tax increase and increasing frontage levies by $1.50 per foot, said Adams.

"This mayor will feel that he has to go out and ensure that he's got different members of the community collaborating with himthat he can't just go it alone."

• Read more from CBC on the 2022 Winnipeg election

The share of the vote he received will not affect the way Gillingham chooses to govern, he said during a news conference at city hall on Friday after meeting with outgoing Mayor Brian Bowman.

"My goal always has been, and certainly with the way the votes broke down, my goal is to bring people together, to really unite our city so that we can move ahead and build a stronger, healthier city," he said.

"And that would be my commitment whether I had a higher percentage of the vote or the percentage of the vote that I got."

City officials try to inform voters about the election through direct mailing of voter cards, the city's website, 311, and social media, city clerk Marc Lemoine said in an email statement.

The city also provides information to candidates so they can let their supporters know how and where they can vote, Lemoine said.

"While turnout is certainly partially based on the efforts of the city, it is also affected greatly by the candidates, issues and even the weather when voting opportunities occur," he said.

"We do consider election 2022 a success based on the lack of concerns raised, our ability to deal with any issues that occurred quickly and with how we were able to accommodate voters to participate successfully in the electoral process should they choose to do so."