The number of voters in New Westminster has gone up, but the actual voter turnout has gone down.
According to the city’s election office, the voter turnout for the Oct. 20 civic election was 29 per cent, which is based on the number of registered voters (50,613) on the provincial voters’ list for New Westminster, plus new registrations over the course of voting.
A total of 14,655 ballots were cast for this year’s election, which was slightly higher than the 2014 election, when 14,564 people cast votes.
Because there was a fewer number of registered voters in 2014 (44,768), that year’s turnout was calculated at 32.5 per cent. Some have speculated that the mayoral race, which featured incumbent Wayne Wright and three-term councillor Jonathan Cote, had an impact on voter turnout in 2014.
Locally, voter turnout was 23.45 per cent in 2011, 23.86 per cent in 2008 and 25.84 per cent in 2005 per cent.
