Meaford council has received a report detailing how the recent municipal election panned out.
During a meeting on Jan. 16, a report was brought forward by Clerk and Director of Community Services Matt Smith for information purposes. The report describes the voting methods used, communications, budget, and accessibility.
For the municipal election in October 2022,the municipality had residents submit their votes online and over the phone, the method they previously used in the 2014 and 2018 municipal and school board elections. People were also allowed to vote in-person or send in mail ballots.
“This offered flexibility to our non-residents unavailable to vote in-person. Through the summer months, communications efforts were targeted toward the promotion of cote-by-mail as an option to ensure that those voters who could not or did not wish to vote in person were registered by the appropriate deadline,” says the report.
Of the 10,595 eligible voters, the municipality saw a turnout of 36.77 per cent, a decline from past elections but still above the provincial average of 36.3 per cent and the county average of 35.34 per cent.
While praising the work done by staff in the last election, Coun. Harley Greenfield says he was disappointed by the turnout.
“We had about 4,000 people who voted. Kind of interesting, 2,800 watched the results on YouTube, I just wonder how many of them had actually voted,” says Greenfield.
The age group which had the highest turnout came from those aged 65 and over, and the lowest group were those under the age of 35.
The municipality also opened advanced polls for in-person voting in Bognor, Woodford, and at Meaford Hall, where 1,077 people use this service.
Leading up to the election, the report says staff created and executed a communications plan which included utilizing radio, print, social media, and website updates.
Meaford budgeted $60,000 for the the municipal election.
