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Voter turnout in Canada

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Voter turnout in Canada as a percentage of total population

Voter turnout is the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in an election. The following presents voter turnout figures for Canada's general elections as compiled by Elections Canada.

It is important to differentiate between the percentage of eligible voters and the percentage of voters relative to the entire population (see chart below). For example, in 1867, 73.1% of eligible voters voted, which represented only 8.3% of the total population. When women got the vote in 1918, 67.7% of eligible voters voted, which represented 35.8% of the total population, a huge jump from previous elections.

  • The average eligible voter turnout for Canada's general elections since 1867 has been 70.5%
  • The highest voter turnouts were in 1958, 1962, and 1963, when eligible voter turnout was 79% and over, roughly 45% the total population.
  • The lowest voter turnout on record was in 2008, when eligible voter turnout fell to only 58.8% (44.1% of the total population).
  • Eligible voter turnout in the 2011 federal election, at 61.1%, was the third lowest in Canadian history, but at 44.3% of the total population, the 12th lowest since women got the vote in 1918). In comparison, the 1968 election got 75.7% of eligible voters, representing only 41.1% of the total population.
  • Voter turnout rose sharply in the 2015 federal election to 68.3% of eligible voters, the highest turnout since 1993.
  • Voter turnout decreased to 67% in 2019 and to 62.2% in 2021. (In terms of total population it dropped 4.3% from 48.8% in 2019 to 44.5% in 2021).

When low turnout reflects disenchantment or indifference, the election may not be an accurate reflection of the will of the people. Low turnouts can lead to unequal representation among various parts of the population. In developed countries, non-voters tend to be concentrated in particular demographic and socioeconomic groups, especially the young and the poor.

The relationship between voting behaviour and voting turnout

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Voter turnouts and voting behaviour are two fundamental elements of elections in order to have a fully functioning democracy. The voting behaviour of electorates has a large impact on the voter turnout and certain areas of behaviour can cause a low turnout in votes. The voter turnout for recent (post 2019) elections have declined and there is debate as to why this has happened. Examples of short term influences of voting behaviour on voter turnout in Canada are as follows:[1]

  • Voters perceptions of the state of the national economy and who will be the best person for improving the economy. This could also link to the appeal of the politicians policies and how effective they will be.
  • Voters personal economic situations.
  • Gendered voting, for example whether it is a female politician. There is evidence to suggest that women are more likely to vote for a female politician than a male politician and vice versa; this is known as gender consciousness.[1] This is due to idea that they share the same characteristics.[2] Contrary to the above assumptions though, if we look for evidence of straightforward gender affinity effect between Canadian voters and candidates with the help of datafrom the 2004 and 2006 Canadian Election Studies (CES), and it finds none on both counts. In both 2004 and 2006 federal elections, male voters were more likely than female voters to cast ballots for women candidates.[3]
  • Age.
  • Race and ethnicity.
  • Education levels of voters.

Voter turnout in Canada's general elections

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Voter turnout in Canada 1867–2021[4]
Date of election Population[a] Number of electors on list Total ballots cast Voter turnout as percentage of electors Voter turnout as percentage of total population
1867-08-07 3,230,000 361,028 268,387 73.1% 8.3%
1872-07-20 3,689,000 426,974 318,329 70.3% 8.6%
1874-01-22 3,689,000 432,410 324,006 69.6% 8.8%
1878-09-17 3,689,000 715,279 534,029 69.1% 14.5%
1882-06-20 4,325,000 663,873 508,496 70.3% 11.8%
1887-02-22 4,325,000 948,222 724,517 70.1% 16.8%
1891-03-05 4,833,000 1,113,140 778,495 64.4% 16.1%
1896-06-23 4,833,000 1,358,328 912,992 62.9% 18.9%
1900-11-07 4,833,000 1,167,402 958,497 77.4% 19.8%
1904-11-03 5,371,000 1,385,440 1,036,878 71.6% 19.3%
1908-10-26 5,371,000 1,463,591 1,180,820 70.3% 22.0%
1911-09-21 7,204,527 1,820,742 1,314,953 70.2% 18.3%
1917-12-17 7,591,971 2,093,799 1,892,741 75.0% 24.9%
1921-12-06 8,760,211 4,435,310 3,139,306 67.7% 35.8%
1925-10-29 8,776,352 4,608,636 3,168,412 66.4% 36.1%
1926-09-14 8,887,952 4,665,381 3,273,062 67.7% 36.8%
1930-07-28 8,887,952 5,153,971 3,922,481 73.5% 44.1%
1935-10-14 10,367,063 5,918,207 4,452,675 74.2% 43.0%
1940-03-26 10,429,169 6,588,888 4,672,531 69.9% 44.8%
1945-06-11 11,494,627 6,952,445 5,305,193 75.3% 46.2%
1949-06-27 11,823,649 7,893,629 5,903,572 73.8% 49.9%
1953-08-10 14,003,704 8,401,691 5,701,963 67.5% 40.7%
1957-06-10 16,073,970 8,902,125 6,680,690 74.1% 41.6%
1958-03-31 16,073,970 9,131,200 7,357,139 79.4% 45.8%
1962-06-18 18,238,247 9,700,325 7,772,656 79.0% 42.61%
1963-04-08 18,238,247 9,910,757 7,958,636 79.2% 43.6%
1965-11-08 18,238,247 10,274,904 7,796,728 74.8% 42.7%
1968-06-25 20,014,880 10,860,888 8,217,916 75.7% 41.1%
1972-10-30 21,568,311 13,000,778 9,974,661 76.7% 46.2%
1974-07-08 21,568,311 13,620,353 9,671,002 71.0% 44.8%
1979-05-22 22,992,604 15,233,653 11,541,000 75.7% 50.2%
1980-02-18 22,992,604 15,890,416 11,015,514 69.3% 47.9%
1984-09-04 24,343,181 16,774,941 12,638,424 75.3% 51.9%
1988-11-21 25,309,331 17,639,001 13,281,191 75.3% 52.5%
1993-10-25 27,296,859 19,906,796 13,863,135 69.6% 50.8%
1997-06-02 27,296,859 19,663,478 13,174,698 67.0% 48.3%
2000-11-27 28,846,761 21,243,473 12,997,185 61.3% 45.1%
2004-06-28 30,007,094 22,466,621 13,683,570 60.9% 45.6%
2006-01-23 30,007,094 23,054,615 14,908,703 64.7% 49.7%
2008-10-14 31,612,897 23,677,639 13,929,093 58.8% 44.1%
2011-05-02 33,476,688 24,257,592 14,823,408 61.1% 44.3%
2015-10-19 35,702,908 25,939,742 17,711,983 68.3% 49.5%
2019-10-21 37,601,230 27,373,058 18,350,359 67.0% 48.8%
2021-09-20 38,246,108 27,366,297 17,034,328 62.2% 44.5%
  1. ^ Population is based on Statistics Canada census data available to Elections Canada at the time of publishing the election report.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Anderson, Cameron D.; Stephenson, Laura B. (2011-01-01). Voting Behaviour in Canada. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-5936-3.
  2. ^ Campbell, Rosie; Heath, Oliver (June 2017). "Do Women Vote for Women Candidates? Attitudes toward Descriptive Representation and Voting Behavior in the 2010 British Election" (PDF). Politics & Gender. 13 (2): 209–231. doi:10.1017/S1743923X16000672. ISSN 1743-923X. S2CID 151387108.
  3. ^ Anderson, Cameron D.; Stephenson, Laura B., eds. (2011-01-01). Voting Behaviour in Canada. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-1785-1.
  4. ^ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". 16 June 2023.
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