Fewer people are making their voices heard in Ottawa’s municipal elections for city councilors.

The percentage of voters who cast their ballots dropped 13 per cent in the last two municipal elections of city council, according to an analysis of Ottawa voting data.

Voter turnout in this year’s election was only 40 per cent of the electorate a nine point drop from 2006. Barrhaven had the lowest voter turnout in the city with only 34 per cent of eligible voters participating.

But what causes low voter turnout, and what are some possible solutions for this?

“The most important factors in voter turnout election to election are issues that people care about and competitive candidates that are capable to hold office,” said Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based voter advocacy group.

“I think the whole city government has been aware of the low voter turnouts, so they added days to the advance polls so more people could come out,” said Allan Hubley, the councillor for Kanata-South.“It looks like it didn’t work completely, but people did use the advanced polls.”

A City of Ottawa spokesman wrote in an email that the Special Advance Voting Days were considered a “great success.” Polling stations were open from Oct. 1-3 as well as the traditional days of Oct. 9, 18 and 27.

Hubley’s ward in Kanata-South has seen the most dramatic drop of the entire city – 24 per cent fewer voters than in 2006.

He said voter turnouts are often a reflection of the competitiveness of the race and the actions of the particular politicians involved.

“In Kanata-South in 2010 the race was wide open and there were a lot more people involved. This year I was the incumbent and the community supported the work I was doing for them,” Hubley said, pointing to his high margin of victory as proof of community support.

His assertions about the competitive races appear to match the data.

In Somerset Ward, 11 candidates fought to replace Diane Holmes, who had been on council since 2003 and the voter turnout only declined by three per cent, which is half the drop in turnout between the 2006 and 2010 elections.

The race in Kitchissippi Ward was marred by allegations of smear campaigns and bullying. Its voter turnout was the highest in the city at 48 per cent – a drop of only three per cent compared to 2010.

The Toronto mayoral election, which dominated media coverage throughout the summer of 2014 saw a 60 per cent voter turnout in the election to replace Rob Ford. In Ottawa, Jim Watson was re-elected with only 40 per cent of voters casting a ballot.

Another explanation of voter turnout may be issues with the accessibility of voting.
According to Elections Canada, after the 2011 federal election, the most common reasons non-voters gave for not voting related to personal issues like work, school, and family.

“In 2004 there was a shift in the reasons given for not going to vote. The largest group of non-voters say that accessibility was the biggest issue,” said Nicole Goodman, an expert in online voting from the University of Toronto. “This is something that can be addressed with remote voting.”

“More Canadian electors have the option of voting in municipal elections that any other jurisdiction in the world,” Goodman said.

She said online voting has the potential to increase the voting rates for those who want to vote but have difficulty getting to the polling station.

But studies examining voter turnouts in Estonia – where almost a quarter of voters cast their ballots online – say there won’t be any significant increase in turnout.

“Internet voting can only ease voting for those who are already familiar with the Internet: that is to say, predominantly male, young people, the rich, and the well-educated,” wrote Daniel Bochsler in a 2009 report for the Central European University.

“E-voting is not a substitute for the people who are apathetic and won’t come out to vote. But it can be a tool for those who want to vote and have accessibility issues,” Goodman said.

But with this technology comes increased worry.

“There is no evidence internet voting increases turnout, and with the increase of internet hacking, there is more risk of having the results hacked,” Conacher said.

He suggested a ranked ballot system, increased government accountability and increased proportional representation at the municipal level as better ways to increase turnout.

“You’ll never get 100 per cent turnout, even with mandatory voting,” Conacher said.

Tecumseh – a small town in Southern Ontario – was one of several municipalities to add e-voting this year.

“This year there was a race in the mayor’s office, the deputy mayor’s office, and a prominent community member was running for council, so it certainly helped the voter turnout,” Laura Moy, the Tecumseh clerk said..

Moy said the addition of e-voting may have also been a factor along with the competitive races in the 5 per cent increase in voter turnout.

“There were a few people who loudly complained about e-voting, but most of the feedback from voters has been very positive,” she said.

She added the town was involved in making e-voting widely known and available to voters, especially in nursing homes and apartment buildings – where voter turnouts are usually low.

“Some people were worried about it, especially those with older parents, but once they realized how easy it was to do they were on board,” she said. “They didn’t need to go out and pick their parents up, bundle them up, and bring them to the polling station which made it easier for everybody.”

With more competitive elections, and further innovation, the trend of dwindling voter turnout may be reversed in Ottawa.