By Olivia McDonald

Voter Turnout Takes A Fall

Oct 22, 2018 | 2:45 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The City saw a heavy drop in numbers when it came to the voter turn out at this year’s municipal election.

In 2014, 37 percent of those who were eligible to vote in Prince George did so. This year the turnout fell to 24 percent, meaning only a quarter of those who can vote filled in the ballots.

Jason Morris, a Political Science Lecturer at UNBC says the low turn out could be an indication that people are relatively pleased with how things are going in the City of Prince George. He also thinks it may be time for a new voting system. 

“It’s easy to blame citizens in a way for not voting and really it isn’t that difficult and we have about 4 years notice to plan for it. But at the same time, we could look to the candidates as well that could have done a better job at engaging people to get them out. Perhaps we could look at the sign laws that were restricted this time and so less people saw what was going on. Another consideration could be to take a serious look at online voting as a way to get people out to the poles at least via their mobile phones,” says Morris.