City council byelection draws fewer than 16 per cent of eligible Elmwood-East Kildonan voters

More than 84 per cent of eligible voters did not cast ballots in the Elmwood-East Kildonan city council byelection Saturday, a turnout being described as both predictable and discouraging.

The ward has 31,819 registered voters but winner Emma Durand-Wood received just 1,567 out of a total 4,977 ballots cast for all seven candidates combined.

Turnout was about 15.7 per cent.

“That’s pretty discouraging… (though) voter turnout is, I think, always an issue (at) all elections. It shows that there is a lot more that needs to happen to get people engaged,” said Durand-Wood.

The byelection was called in order to fill the council seat left vacant when Jason Schreyer died suddenly last April. He had represented the ward for 11 years.

Durand-Wood, who will be sworn in at Thursday’s city council meeting, said her team knocked on nearly every door in the ward. At the beginning of the campaign, she said many people weren’t even aware a byelection had been scheduled.

“Reaching people in this kind of interesting information economy that we have right now… really just kind of reinforces that we need to use all the channels that are out there to make sure that people know (about municipal votes). Definitely, there’s room to grow,” she said, adding she’s interested in discussing the idea of lowering the voting age to increase political engagement.

“If you can get people into the habit of voting when they’re young and get them engaged when they’re young, then maybe we’ll see just overall growing, better turnout.”

She plans to ramp up communications with her ward’s residents as well, noting that will likely include regular newsletters.

Durand-Wood said municipal election officials work hard to make voting convenient by offering multiple advance voting options, including some located at hospitals.

Turnout in the 2022 municipal election was also relatively low in the ward; just under 29 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

That fell short of a 37.5 per cent citywide turnout.

Coun. Brian Mayes was first elected in a 2011 byelection in which turnout was 20.3 per cent.

Mayes (St. Vital) called the latest participation rate “no surprise.”

“(In byelections, voters are) not going out to vote for mayor and then just voting for councillor while they’re there. You’re the top of the ticket if you’re running for city councillor. I guess people don’t feel it’s influential enough (of a position) to get out there and vote,” he said. “We certainly had to cajole, encourage people to vote back in 2011.

“I don’t think it’s just Elmwood. It’s part of a larger decline, which is upsetting. We should have more people participating.”

Voting numbers were even lower in two school trustee races that were also decided Saturday.

Just 5.3 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots to elect a new trustee in Louis Riel Ward 3, and 6.8 per cent did so in Pembina Trails Ward 1.

Peter Bjornson won the spot in Louis Riel, and Samantha Pope claimed victory in Pembina Trails.

The more local a political race is, the lower voter turnout tends to be, said Chris Adams, an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Manitoba.

“Byelections are (also) notoriously low for turnout and (there’s) a couple of reasons for it,” said Adams.

Votes that don’t elect a new government or mayor attract the least attention, media reports and advertising, while municipal candidates also lack the help and established support base of political parties, he said.

“The (candidates are) just a bunch of individual names who have to find their way through the media noise to (get) known,” he said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he suspects voters may also be distracted by political issues that don’t fall directly under municipal jurisdiction right now, such as tariffs and bail reform.

“There’s a lot of focus on national and international politics,” he said. “Perhaps not as many people are paying attention to municipal politics right now.”

The Free Press was initially offered an interview with Sherwood Armbruster, the city’s senior election official on Monday, but was later told he was “no longer available.”

In an email, city spokeswoman Tamara Forlanski said the city worked to make the byelection voting process “as easy and convenient as possible,” with advance voting available for 17 days at city hall and three days at community sites, including care homes and hospitals.

Byelection notices were mailed out to every registered voter, while the city also ran newspaper, website, social media and Reddit ads.

Meanwhile, Gillingham welcomed Durand-Wood to her new position.

“She ran a positive campaign, knocked on almost every door in the ward, which just speaks to her dedication coming into this role. So, I think she’s going to be a very effective councillor,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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