Voter apathy concerns loom over Toronto election days ahead of vote

Thestar.com, Toronto.ctvnews.ca
June 16, 2023
Sharif Hassan

With 102 registered candidates, more than 10 debates featuring the apparent front-runners and around-the-clock news coverage, Toronto's mayoral election has clearly offered plenty to follow.

Less clear is whether voters have been paying attention.

Concerns about voter apathy are not unique to Toronto but have come into sharp focus after only 29.7 per cent of the city's 1.9 million registered voters cast ballots in the last municipal election.

There was little suspense in that October 2022 mayoral race, with incumbent John Tory ultimately delivering on widespread predictions that he would trounce the field.

Tory's resignation in February after admitting to an affair with a staffer triggered a wide open race, which some experts speculated may help generate interest.

But Lydia Miljan, a political science professor at the University of Windsor, isn't convinced Torontonians will flock to the polls.

"I think there is just fatigue out there for politics in general and for this election in particular, given that we just had a municipal race not even a year ago,” she said.

"I am not surprised that people are not engaged in this campaign,” she added, noting that municipal politics typically generate less interest than provincial or federal votes.

Asked about his level of interest ahead of the June 26 election, downtown resident Don Fawke said he will "probably" vote, but isn't convinced any of the contenders are speaking to his interests.

"I don't have a strong opinion on it actually,” he said. “I would be looking for a centrist candidate, but I don't see a strong one there.”

For Pat Cugliari, however, frustration with local politics doesn't justify apathy.

"I don't have any confidence in the career politicians who keep saying the same things ... everyone talks a good game and nothing gets done," Cugliari, 62, said outside a shopping centre in Etobicoke, in the west end of the city.

He argued that showing up to the polling booth was a civic duty, even if that means deliberately casting a spoiled ballot in protest against the registered candidates – something he said he has done in the past.

He also expressed little sympathy for people who can't be bothered to vote and then criticize their political leaders.

"If you abandon your right to vote, to have a say, you abandon your right to either complain or advocate," he said. "That is your voice. You give that up, then you have to shut up."

Advance voting in the mayoral byelection was up 12 per cent compared to the municipal election last year.

The City of Toronto said nearly 130,000 residents attended 50 advance voting locations between June 8 and June 13. That was up from nearly 116,000 voters during eight days of advance voting in October.

But the final turnout figures remain to be seen and Miljan, the political science professor, suggested that the record number of candidates may end up suppressing voter engagement.

"I think what people end up doing is they become so overwhelmed, and I would imagine this might be the case that if you really wanted to be informed in this election, you would have to do a lot of work on your own,” she said.

"It does require a lot of effort."