University of Saskatchewan poli-sci researcher Charles Smith says this is more likely a symptom of voter apathy rather than voter fatigue.
When polls closed at 8 p.m. on Oct. 28, a total of 439,771 ballots had been cast over the course of the 2024 provincial election, representing 52.9 per cent of registered voters, according to Elections Saskatchewan.
“Just over half of the eligible voters voting is a problem,” said University of Saskatchewan associate professor of political science Charles Smith. “We’d like to see more people casting their ballot and registering their voice, given all the issues that were forefront this campaign.”
Saskatchewan’s turnout falls short of provincial elections recently held in B.C. and New Brunswick, where two-thirds of eligible voters turned out, at 61 per cent and 66 per cent respectively. Alberta and Manitoba also had more engagement in 2023, putting Saskatchewan near the bottom of the list, nationally.
Demographic breakdowns are not yet available, but Smith said election turnout overall has been declining for several decades in Saskatchewan, likely due to voter apathy rather than voter fatigue.
That could be due to a growing sense of disconnect from the issues political parties are focused on — or not focused on — during their governance and campaigning stages, he theorized.
“The parties, I think, have some blame here,” he said. “Voters are either not seeing themselves represented, not thinking their vote matters or not thinking that their issues are being addressed, (and) I think that’s part of it.”
The causes of voter apathy are issues of both politics and policy, more so than poll accessibility, Smith said.
Early turnout during the first days of voting week showed a surge in voter activity, with 47 per cent more ballots cast in the first six days than during advance polls in 2020. In an effort to make voting more accessible, Elections Saskatchewan introduced a seven-day voting week for the first time this election.
“Getting rid of as many barriers as possible to people accessing a ballot is, I think, worthwhile — and I think that they did their best, but I don’t think you can administer your way out of the decline in voter turnout,” Smith said.
He argued the bigger questions are “How do we renew our democratic institutions?” and “How do we make people see themselves in the voting process?”
Smith also suggested that the rural-urban split in the seats won between the Sask. Party and NDP might have some impact on the municipal elections in Saskatoon and Regina next month.
“Anyone associated with the Sask. Party in these urban centers, I think, is going to be running away from that party, as we’ve seen in Saskatoon with the Gord Wyant (mayoral) campaign,” he said.
Regardless, Smith and University of Regina politics professor Tom McIntosh agreed that municipal elections always tend to get a much lower engagement level than provincial politics, and that’s not likely to change this year.
“The turnout for municipal elections is always abysmal (and) a municipal election coming right on the heels of a provincial election may just fatigue people,” McIntosh said.
“Everything seems to be about election politics, whether it’s here, down south or at the municipal level. So I think there is a risk that we could see an even lower turnout.”
Regina’s average voter turnout was around 20 per cent in the last three municipal elections. Saskatoon reports just slightly higher, at an average 25 per cent in the last two elections.
— with files from Alec Salloum
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