Some political analysts think voter turnout could be higher in Prince George this year.

By Tommy Osborne

Voter turnout

Political analysts expert higher than normal voter turnout

Oct 3, 2024 | 5:24 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The provincial election is rapidly approaching, and the newest polls continue to show it’s a tight race between the BC Conservatives and the BC NDP, with the Conservatives holding a slight 3 point advantage. The nearly matched polls, as well as the dichotomy between the two parties, has some political analysts expecting more voters to show up at the polls than usual.

“It’s the cost of governing when a party is in power for two terms. Sometimes they lose popularity and you’ll have this push to replace them or push for change, which seems to be fueling the BC Conservatives right now,” said College of New Caledonia Political Science Instructor Chris Beach.

“You might see those core NDP supporters, traditional supporters of the NDP, worried about a shift to the far right, the Conservative Party, and that may motivate them,” he continued.

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B.C.’s Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman explained since 2005, Prince George’s voter turnout has been around the provincial average, as it’s ranged from 54% to 62%. The lowest 54% mark was also the most recent number, which took place during the covid lockdown years, so being out of lockdown could likely play a role in seeing voter turnout increase. However, Beach adds with huge issues like crime, healthcare, and affordability dominating the election cycle, on top of the large contrast between the NDP and Conservatives, will likely fuel a voting surge to surpass the historic averages.

“Given all the high profile issues that we see in the news right now that people are concerned about, yeah, we could see an uptick in voting,” Beach said.

Boegman says he, alongside all of Elections BC, are purely focused on encouraging voters to use their democratic right to make their voice heard, and part of that is ensuring the process is as smooth and accessible as possible.

“What our focus is really on is making sure that there’s no administrative barriers for voters to turnout, so that we have the most accessible voting model in Canada. Voters can vote from when the election is called right up until the close of voting on final voting day. That means that they can vote in their local district office whenever that office is open,” Boegman said.

Trying to reach demographics that typically don’t vote as much was another big focus.

“Youth, we know, traditionally don’t have a high voter turnout. So we reached out to the College to see what we could do to encourage them to vote. We reached out to the Native Friendship Centre for the same reason. We know that the Aboriginal community often does not have a large voter turnout, so we wanted to to see what we could do to encourage their turnout,” said the PG-Valemount District Electoral Officer Arlene Krueger.

Whether or not these strategies will work won’t be known until after the vote, but Beach thinks the candidates themselves, on top of BC Election’s efforts, could be fueling more votes from these untapped demographics.

“Right now the Conservatives, like the federal Conservatives, are attracting a lot of young voters, which hasn’t really happened before. Normally the conservative parties attract older voters,” Beach said.

Voting is already open at District Electoral Officers, and advance voting will begin on October 10.

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