Record low voter turnout in B.C. election

No plans to move elections away from Stanley Cup playoffs, says premier.

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 4:47 PM PT

CBC News

Elections BC workers in Metro Vancouver await the arrival of voters on Tuesday. (CBC)

Voter turnout in B.C.'s provincial election hit a record low on Tuesday, with only 50 per cent of eligible voters bothering to vote, a full eight percentage points less than the 58 per cent that voted in 2005.

The sharp drop in voter participation came as a surprise to B.C.'s chief electoral officer, Harry Neufeld, who was predicting the highest turnout in 20 years after a record high of 297,000 people voted in advance polls in the days leading up to the May 12 election.

B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell won his third straight mandate and his party received 46.1 per cent of the 1,545,716 ballots cast, taking 49 of 85 seats. About 44,000 fewer people than voted in the general election cast ballots in the referendum on electoral reform, for a total of 1,501,765.

Neufeld told CBC News he'll be looking to find out why only half of eligible voters showed up at the polls.

"We're going to be doing a survey," he said Wednesday. "We did a survey after the 2005 election, and a significant number of people, about 44 per cent, the last time we surveyed them, were simply disengaged with the political process and just didn't have an interest in following politics, being involved and being part of the voting process."

Voter turnout has been dropping for years in B.C. In the 1983 provincial election, 70 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Did politics lose to hockey playoffs?

There has been much speculation that the Canucks short-lived Stanley Cup playoff run diverted many peoples' attention away from the campaign.

Many candidates did what they could to compete for voter attention, including wearing hockey jerseys, but at least one poll showed the public was still more interested in hockey than politics.

The Canucks eventually lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs on Monday night, potentially leaving many voters in a deep funk on Tuesday morning when the polls opened.

But if hockey is the problem, it's not likely to go away. B.C.'s election dates have been fixed by Premier Gordon Campbell to come up every four years in May, right at the start of playoff season, and on Wednesday, Campbell dismissed the idea of moving the date.

"I think people are quite capable of dealing with hockey and an election," said Campbell.

UBC political science professor Fred Cutler said there were other factors at play, including the two main party leaders' lack of charisma and a lack of clear divisions in their platforms.

"We didn't have people able to separate the two parties easily or separate their leaders," said Cutler.

For instance, the NDP was criticized by many of its traditional environmentalist supporters for wanting to axe the B.C. Liberals' carbon tax, sending a mixed message to voters about where the party stood in the traditional political landscape.

"For a voter who is having that kind of pressure on both sides and can't quite make up his or her mind, it's going to be that little bit harder to get up and make the walk and tick the ballot," said Cutler.

Internal Links

VIDEO: Kirk Williams reports: Record low voter turnout in B.C. election (Runs 2:15)
Re-elected Campbell to focus on strengthening B.C.'s economy

B.C. Votes 2009

Get the results

Overall results and analysis
Interactive results map
Results by riding

The campaign

Video timeline of the campaign
Election headlines archive
The leaders and parties
B.C.'s other political parties
B.C.'s STV referendum

Overall Results

Overall Election Results
Party	Elected	Leading	Total	Vote Share (%)
Updated: May. 13, 2009, 1:16 AM PDT
LIB	49	0	49	46.02
NDP	36	0	36	42.06
GRN	0	0	0	8.10
CON	0	0	0	2.11
OTH	0	0	0	1.72

Choose a format to view results for all ridings and parties:

Interactive results map Riding results

All results are unofficial until final ballot counts are verified by Elections B.C.

STV referendum overall results

Question: Which electoral system should British Columbia use to elect members to the provinical Legislative Assembly?

The existing system (First-Past-the-Post)
The single transferable vote electorial system (BC-STV) proposed by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform

Electoral District Vote

BC-STV

First-Past-the-Post

51 RIDINGS

Ridings 7/85

Ridings 78/85

Updated: May. 13, 2009, 1:16 AM PDT

85/85 ridings reporting

Total Popular Vote

BC-STV

First-Past-the-Post

MAJORITY 60%

560,430 votes | 38.82%

883,259 votes | 61.18%

Updated: May. 13, 2009, 1:16 AM PDT

What it needs to win:

For the referendum to be binding, the approval level must be:

more than 50% of the votes in at least 51 of the province's 85 electoral districts, AND
at least 60% of the total popular vote, province-wide.

If the two thresholds are met, government is required to introduce legislation to implement BC-STV in sufficient time for it to be in place for the May 2013 General Election.

B.C. Votes Headlines

Huntington defeats Oppal in B.C. election recount: Independent candidate Vicki Huntington has defeated high profile B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Wally Oppal in the riding of Delta South in one of two provincial election recounts concluded on Tuesday.
Oppal falls behind in see-saw Delta South recount: B.C. Liberal Wally Oppal fell behind in Monday's initial recount of ballots cast in Delta South in the May 12 provincial election. Absentee votes will still need to be counted Tuesday before the final result will be announced Wednesday.
Record low voter turnout in B.C. election: Voter turnout in B.C.'s provincial election hit a record low on Tuesday, with only 50 per cent of eligible voters bothering to vote, a full eight percentage points less than the 58 per cent that voted in 2005.
Oppal awaits results of recount for Delta South seat: There will be an automatic recount in the Delta South riding after preliminary election results show star Liberal candidate Wally Oppal beat independent Vicki Huntington by a mere two votes.
Re-elected Campbell to focus on strengthening B.C.'s economy: Gordon Campbell says reviving the province's economy is his main task as he heads into a historic third straight term as the province's premier, but other issues — such as health care and the environment — are also on the agenda.

My Riding & Riding Talk

Have your say about what's important in your own riding. Read profiles about your candidates, get riding-related information and join the debate.

Find My Riding

List All Ridings

Back

Change My Riding List All Ridings

B.C. Votes Features

Top CBCNews.ca Headlines

Headlines

HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive video: The damage done to HMCS Corner Brook when it hit the ocean floor off B.C.'s coast last summer was more extensive than first reported, CBC News has learned by obtaining exclusive pictures of the submarine.
Whitney Houston was found unconscious underwater, police say video: Whitney Houston was underwater and apparently unconscious in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel when found, Beverly Hills police said Monday.
Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge: An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a mandatory minimum sentence for a first offence of possessing a loaded firearm.
Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews: Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says.
Low vitamin D in womb tied to poor language skills: Children born to women who had low levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy are more likely to have language problems, a new study suggests.