A political scientist says the Nova Scotia government needs to do more to encourage voter engagement if it wants to reverse the trend of lower voter turnout and some jurisdictions are looking at what worked in recent municipal elections in the hope to strengthen participation in the future.

Alex Marland, a political science professor at Acadia University, said Elections Nova Scotia’s decision last week not to mail out voter information cards due to a possible postal strike wouldn’t help.

“I think it flies in the face of what they should be doing, which is doing everything they can to make sure people are as informed as possible about voting,” he said. declared.

Province-wide voter turnout was 55 percent in 2021 and is increasing. downward trend for decades. Turnout fell in the Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality in last month’s provincial municipal elections. In Halifax, it fell from 43 percent in 2020 to 37 percent last month.

But turnout remained good in small local jurisdictions. It remained stable in Victoria County and the town of Annapolis Royal, which returning officers attribute to efforts to attract candidates and encourage voters.

Returning officer Melony Robinson said voters in Annapolis Royal are often engaged, but the city has taken additional steps this year to maintain their interest. The city posted the biographies of all candidates on the municipal website and used Internet and telephone voting to make it as easy as possible for citizens to vote.

“Even before we had our first advance vote, we had residents from all over the world – like people who live here but weren’t here at the moment – ​​wondering where they could read the platforms of potential candidates ” she said.

Turnout was 64 percent, down slightly from 2020’s 66 percent, but Robinson said with only 512 eligible voters this year, the difference was minor.

Victoria County interviewed Bruce Morrison and Larry Dauphinee, the outgoing director and deputy director, as well as returning officer Blair Gallop, about what it takes to be an elected official and posted videos on its website. That helped turn out 61 percent of voters, Gallop said.

“Turnout is down a little bit, but … anytime you get over 60 percent in a municipal election, you still get a really good turnout,” he said.

Voting methods are changing

In an effort to reach more voters, CBRM councilors this year approved what’s called a hybrid system, using Internet and telephone voting for early voting and day-of-day paper ballots. of the election. Despite this, the percentage of voters who voted fell from 51 to 48.

Spokeswoman Christina Lamey said voter engagement is left to the discretion of the candidates. CBRM does not promote the need to vote, but uses social media to inform people of the options available to them.

“The motivation to vote usually comes from the candidates themselves, to inspire people to vote for them. We make sure they know exactly how they can do that,” she said.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs oversees the Municipal Elections Act and has a municipal elections officer, but spokesperson Geoff Tobin said the province has no role to play in voter turnout.

The ministry declined an interview request, saying it was up to municipalities to organize their own elections.

Concerns about voter disinterest

Marland, who also holds the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership, said the recent municipal elections and the U.S. presidential race could cause voter fatigue, affecting turnout in the Nov. 26 provincial election. .

“The biggest problem is just voter apathy and lack of interest and that’s one that’s really hard to decipher,” he said.

Marland said the disappearance of local media and increasingly global news could also contribute to voter disinterest.

“If so many people are caught off guard and paying attention to what’s happening outside of their local communities, it’s very hard for them to feel connected and it’s hard for them to feel like there’s a real reason important thing that they should get out and vote for.”

Marland said that was one of the reasons voter information cards should have been mailed this month and why Municipal Affairs should do more to ensure the province has a thriving democracy.

“They should carry out province-wide public education campaigns, in addition to what local municipalities are doing,” he said. “We need more information about our elections from election agencies, not less.”