Why has voter turnout gone down?

Fewer than half of eligible Ontario voters cast a ballot in Thursday's election, continuing a downward trend in voter turnout across provincial elections this year.

Turnout in Ontario was just 49.2 per cent - an all-time low. Just 57 per cent Manitobans cast a vote in their province's election on Tuesday. In the Northwest Territories, voter turnout was the lowest in a decade, with Yellowknife's voting rate at less than 35 per cent.

P.E.I.'s voter turnout was a relatively high 76 per cent - but even that was the province's lowest since at least 1966.

And it isn't just the provincial elections. The federal election in May had a voter turnout of about 61 per cent. That was up from 2008, but as recently as 1988, more than 75 per cent of eligible Canadians voted in the federal election.

So, why is voter turnout so low? Have there been too many elections this year? Are people tuning out? Is this a statistical blip or is something deeper going on here? Let us know what you think.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)