Municipal elections in Alberta are just around the corner. Advanced polls are currently underway with the official Municipal Elections Day on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.
I compared the Okotoks population information from Statistics Canada with the election results from the 2013 Okotoks Municipal Election. The Canadian census was done in 2011 and 2016 so I had to extrapolate from 2011 to get a close estimate of the number of people 18 years of age and older in Okotoks in 2013.
In my calculation, I also assumed that everyone who cast a ballot in 2013 voted for one of the mayoral candidates.
There were two mayoral candidates in 2013, so I assumed that adding up the votes cast for each mayoral candidate gives a close estimate of the number of people who voted.
The 2013 Okotoks eligible voter estimate that I arrived at from extrapolating the Statistics Canada census information is 18,938 people. The total number of votes cast for the mayoral candidates was 4,591 votes. Therefore, I estimate that Okotoks voter turnout in 2013 was approximately 24 per cent.
I sure hope that voter turnout is higher at the election next Monday. Municipal government impacts our day-to-day life more than any other level of government. It doesn’t seem right to me that less than a quarter of the adults decide who will lead our municipal governments.
Please research the candidates running for election in your town or municipal district.
I can hardly wait to exercise my democratic right and responsibility when I cast a ballot next Monday, Oct. 16.
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War does not determine who is right, only who is left.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not so sure.