The City of Owen Sound saw fewer people come out to vote in the 2022 election compared to 2018.
The city says for the 2022 municipal and school board election, 6,230 ballots were cast out of 15,960 eligible voters, resulting in a turnout of 39 per cent.
In the 2018 election, the city saw a voter turnout of 44.32 per cent.
The city says among the ballots cast in this year’s election, 5,058 were sent online, 611 over the phone, and 561 cast at help centres.
Ian Boddy was was re-elected as mayor, while Brian O’Leary lost his seat as deputy mayor to Scott Greig.
Travis Dodd, Jon Farmer, Brock Hamley, Marion Koepke, Suneet Kukreja, Carol Merton, and Melanie Middlebro were all elected to council.
Boddy says he anticipates other municipalities saw a lower voter turnout rate as well.
“I looked at Collingwood last night and I think they were even lower than us. I haven’t looked at other municipalities, but I suspect they are lower all over,” says Boddy.
Boddy adds the cause for the low voter turnout rate could be the result of resident satisfaction or disengagement after Covid.
“I think our challenge as a council now is to try and re-engage our community and get them more engaged over the next four years so we can try and get a higher turnout in four years time,” says Boddy.
