Expert warns voters may be weary by the time N.S. election rolls around

A political scientist says the Nova Scotia government needs to do more to encourage voter engagement if it wants to reverse the trend toward lower turnout in elections and some jurisdictions are looking at what worked in recent municipal elections in hopes of bolstering participation in the future.

Alex Marland, a political science professor at Acadia University, said Elections Nova Scotia's decision last week to skip mailing out voter information cards because of a possible postal strike will not help.

"I think it actually flies in the face of what they should be doing, which is everything they possibly can to make people as informed as they can about voting," he said. 

Voter turnout provincewide was 55 per cent in 2021 and has been on a downward trend for decades. Turnout dropped in both the Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality during last month's provincewide municipal elections. In Halifax, it fell from 43 per cent in 2020 to 37 per cent last month.

But turnout remained good in smaller local jurisdictions. It remained steady in Victoria County and the Town of Annapolis Royal, which returning officers attributed to efforts to attract candidates and encourage voters.

Returning officer Melony Robinson said voters in Annapolis Royal are often engaged, but the town took extra steps this year to keep them interested. The town posted biographies of all the candidates on the municipal website and used internet and telephone voting to make it as easy as possible for people to vote.

"Even before we had our first advance poll, we had residents far and wide — like, people that live here but weren't here at the moment — wondering where could they read the platforms for the possible candidates," she said.

Turnout was 64 per cent, which is down slightly from 66 per cent in 2020, but Robinson said with only 512 eligible voters this year, the difference was minor.

Victoria County interviewed Bruce Morrison and Larry Dauphinee, the retiring warden and deputy warden, as well as returning officer Blair Gallop, on what it takes to be an elected official and posted videos on its website. That helped get 61 per cent of voters out, Gallop said.

"Turnout is down a little bit, but ... anytime that you're pulling in 60-per-cent-plus in a municipal election, you're still getting very good turnouts," he said. 

Voting methods changing

In an effort to reach more voters, CBRM councillors approved what's known as a hybrid system this year, using internet and telephone voting for advance polls and paper ballots on election day. Despite that, the percentage of voters casting a ballot dropped from 51 to 48.

Spokesperson Christina Lamey said voter engagement is left up to the candidates. CBRM does not promote the need to vote, but uses social media to tell people about the options.

"The motivation to vote generally comes from the candidates themselves, as to inspire people to vote for them. We make sure they know exactly how they can," she said.

The Department of Municipal Affairs oversees the Municipal Elections Act and has a municipal elections officer, but spokesperson Geoff Tobin said the province has no role in addressing voter turnout.

The department declined an interview request, saying it's up to municipalities to conduct their own elections.

Concerns about voter disinterest

Marland, who is also the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership, said the recent municipal elections and the U.S. presidential race could cause voter burnout, affecting turnout in the Nov. 26 provincial elections.

"The bigger problem is simply voter apathy and lack of interest and that's the one that's really tough to unscramble," he said.

Marland said disappearing local media outlets and increasingly global news could also contribute to voter disinterest.

"If you have so many people getting caught up and paying attention to things that are happening outside of their local communities, it's very hard for them to feel connected and it's hard for them to feel like there's a really important reason why they should go out and vote."

Marland said that's one reason voter information cards should have been mailed out this month and why Municipal Affairs should put more effort into ensuring the province has a thriving democracy.

"They should be running public education campaigns that are provincewide on top of what local municipalities are doing," he said. "We need more information about our elections coming out from the elections agencies, not less."