Voter turnout – the final numbers
Posted May 27, 2009 by Sacha Peter - Link
Category: Analysis
Comments (4)
Elections BC has posted their voter turnout statistics, and it can be summarized with this PDF file which they have attached to a press release.
The percentage of eligible voters that voted is 50.99%, while the percentage of registered voters that voted was 56.01%. This is down from the 2005 election result of 58.19% and 62.36%, respectively.
This shows that elections BC are managing to maintain a 90% plus registration rate, but provincial politics turn people off.
The parties should consider how they can reverse this trend.
It is interesting to note that just eight months ago almost 200,000 more BC’ers turned out for the federal election. There have been four federal votes in 8 years but turn out is steady in the low 60’s. Is it because of a longer campaign, or better coverage? Could it be better politicans?
Green support in the Interior has dipped from 8.8% in 2001, to 8.3% in 2005, but back up to 8.6% in 2009…in part because of the strong showing in the Okanagan in 2009 and the vote holding in the North. In contrast the Liberals have lost 31.3% of their support since 2001 and surprisingly the NDP having nearly doubled its support between 2001 and 2005, fell back by 9.8% between 2005 in 2009…costing it one seat in Cariboo-Chilcotin and probably the election overall. The race between the Liberals and NDP may have gotten tighter, 6.4% spread in 2005 versus 3.3% in 2009, but 44,734 voters failed to show up in 2009 as compared to 2005, in a situation where 101,025 more voters registered since 2001.
Compared to the Unity Party of BC the Conservatives have increased support in the Interior by 8.1% since 2001…which might help explain the steeper decline in the Liberal vote. Overall support, however, is still nowhere near BC Reform in 1996 when the party won the two Peace River seats. All other parties and candidates have lost 74% of their support since 2001, except in Peace River-North where Independent Arthur Hadland took 31.3% of the vote. If you remove Arthur’s vote from the equation all other parties and candidates have lost 85% of their support since 2001.
Compared to 2001 and 2005 Green party members now hold one municipal council seat each in Kelowna and Kimberley and two Rural Director seats in the Regional District Central Kootenay, a net gain of one seat after losing a Rural Director seat in Thompson Nicola in October 2008 and a former federal Green Party candidate retiring from Golden Council. They will have to do more than just hold their vote if they want to win any seats in the Interior, starting with creating a region wide presence between now and 2013.
2. The Actual Numbers – 2009 vs 2005, with 2001 in brackets
2009
Liberal 163,627 – 43.5% -30,575/-15.7% [-74,536/31.3%]
NDP 151,115 – 40.2% -16,322/-9.8% [+65,454/+76.4%]
Green 32,183 – 8.6% -2,658/-7.6% [-3,932/-13%]
Conservative 22,082 – 5.9% +14,263/+182.4% [+1,649/+8.1%]
Other 6,986 – 1.9% -6,662/-48.8% [-20,244/-74%]
Turnout 375,993/679,126 = 55.4%
-44,734/-10.6% [-33,485/-8.1%]
Between 2001 and 2009 101,025 registered voters were added to the Interior
2005 – 2005 versus 2001
Liberal 194,202/46.2% -43,961/-18.5%
NDP 167,447/39.8% +81,786/+95.5%
Green 34,841/8.3% -1,287/-3.4%
Conservative 7,819/1.9% -12,614/-61.7%
Other 13,648/3.2% -13,582/-56.2%
Rejected 2,770/.7% +907/+48.7%
Turnout 420,727/663,576 = 63.4%
+11,249/+2.7%
Between 2001 and 2005 85,475 registered voters were added to the Interior
2001
Liberal 238,163 – 58.2%
NDP 85,661 – 20.9%
Green 36,128 – 8.8%
UPBC 20,433 – 5%
Other 27,230 – 6.6%
Rejected 1,863 – .5%
409,478/578,101 = 70.8%
I found it interesting that around 300,000 more people voted in the referendum.
What does that say?
Not sure where you are getting your numbers from. 1,595,088 voted in the referendum, 1,640,452 did in the general election.