Why voter turnout on P.E.I. is dropping

The percentage of Islanders who voted in Monday's federal election was down from the 2015 election, but was still the second highest in the country.

Canadians elected a Liberal minority government under Justin Trudeau.

According to Elections Canada, P.E.I.'s voter turnout was 71.69 per cent, second only to Saskatchewan at 71.72 per cent. Both provinces were unanimous in their choices — all four P.E.I. seats went to the Liberals, and all 14 Saskatchewan seats went to the Conservatives.

Nationally, voter turnout was 65.9 per cent. 

The numbers are down from the 2015 election, when the Liberals won a majority government. Voter turnout then was 76.9 per cent on P.E.I., and 68.3 per cent nationally.

Peter McKenna, professor of political science at UPEI, said one reason for the drop in voter turnout is that younger voters may have been more engaged in the last election because of their enthusiasm for Trudeau.

"The prospect of doing politics differently and you know electoral reform and legalizing marijuana and a new relationship or partnership with Indigenous people had galvanized younger people," he said.

But he said during this election, the Trudeau brand was damaged because he had backed off from electoral reform, faced criticism for the SNC Lavalin affair and for wearing blackface in the past. 

In the past we just kind of took it for granted that Islanders would show up.— Peter McKenna

"I think that probably turned off a number of younger voters," McKenna said.

"It could also be that just the negative tenor of the campaign itself, which many people have been unnerved by and disturbed by."

Another reason for a drop in voter turnout, he said, could be the breaking down of traditional voting patterns on P.E.I. — "this idea that you know people used to vote the way their parents voted, in the way their grandparents voted, and if you voted Liberal that was sort of in the blood."

That can also be a good thing, McKenna said, "but the negative side of that is I think that it means that people are not that engaged or not that passionate or not that committed in terms of their voting intentions."

He said that was also evident in last spring's provincial election, when Islanders voted for a minority Conservative government. According to Elections P.E.I., voter turnout was 76.27 per cent, the lowest in the last 16 elections dating back to before 1966. 

"In the past we just kind of took it for granted that Islanders would show up," he said.

"To see it slip below 80 per cent and to see it to get down in the low 70s, that's got to be a little disconcerting. So it tells me that there's something more significant afoot here and something more troubling and that's something that we need to be very mindful of going forward."

Getting young voters engaged

McKenna said the key is to get the younger generation more engaged.

"I think there's this sentiment out there that they've just kind of had it with the same old way of doing politics and that not much is changing and therefore why should I bother," he said.

"I think if those sentiments really start to sink in, that means the media and universities and schools civic organizations all have to do a better job of explaining the importance of voter turnout and engagement because maybe there are people who are taking it for granted and don't understand that people died on battlefields in Europe to support democracy."

More P.E.I. news