Voter turnout in Thompson worst in 25 years

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This article was published 08/06/2022 (1367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VOTER turnout for the Thompson byelection was an abysmal 20 per cent — the lowest turnout for a Manitoba byelection in 25 years.

Only 2,070 of the eligible 10,528 voters cast a ballot on Tuesday, Elections Manitoba reported.

Eric Redhead, who ran for the NDP, received 1,469 votes to defeat Progressive Conservative candidate Charlotte Larocque, who received 575 voters.

Four ballots were declined and 22 were rejected (when a ballot is marked for more than one candidate, or is marked in a way that identifies the voter, for example.)

While turnout was low in the byelection, Redhead said he was buoyed by winning by a sizeable margin.

“I’m hoping that that margin translates over to the general election and we form a government,” he said Wednesday. The next provincial election is due on or before Oct. 3, 2023.

“I just want to thank each and every voter out there in the riding. Not everyone voted for me, but I’ll do my best to represent everyone,” Redhead said.

Larocque said the low turnout was “a little disheartening” but not unexpected. She said she ran for the Conservatives in the last federal election and voter turnout in the riding was 32 per cent.

Premier Heather Stefanson, the PC leader, never campaigned in Thompson during the byelection, while NDP Leader Wab Kinew did hit the hustings with Redhead.

In the 2019 provincial election, voter turnout for Thompson was 37 per cent compared to 55 per cent provincewide.

Byelections generally have a low voter turnout. The March byelection in Fort Whyte, which was won by the PCs’ Obby Khan, saw 44 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. In the 2018 byelection to fill former NDP premier Greg Selinger’s St. Boniface seat, voter turnout was almost 47 per cent, with Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont the clear winner. In 2017, just 31 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the Point Douglas byelection won by NDP candidate Bernadette Smith.

Larocque said the long-awaited nice weather and the end of the school year nearing may have kept voters home.

Redhead said the turnout would’ve been worse if not for the efforts of his campaign and volunteers to get out the vote.

“We worked so hard to pull the votes,” he said after his campaign visited every community in the sprawling constituency and put up 800 signs. “It was definitely a team effort.”

More could’ve been done to inform voters, he said.

“What we heard a lot was there was confusion about where the polling station is; they were confused about the day,” Redhead said.

“A lot of people weren’t aware of a byelection happening, I think,” said the MLA-elect, whose swearing-in ceremony is tentatively set for June 24. Redhead said he plans to share his concerns with Elections Manitoba ahead of the provincial election.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca