Wowzers!
Elections Canada has just released voter turnout information for the 2015 federal election and the results are very interesting (and not just to election nerds like us!):
- First time voter turnout increased nationally by nearly 18 percentage points in comparison to 2011 (from 40.5% to 58.3%)
- Here in BC, first time voter turnout increased by a whopping 26 points! (from 39.4% to 65.7%)
- Voter turnout among younger people (aged 18-24) increased by 18 percentage points in comparison to 2011 (from 38.8% to 57.1%)
- In BC, 18-24 year old turnout increased by 24 points! (39.9% to 63.9%)
- There was also a 12 percentage point bump in turnout among 25-34 year old voters (from 45.1% to 57.4%)
- Again, BC outperformed the national average with an increase of 18 points (from 41.7% to 59.7%)
- Voter turnout on-reserve increased nearly 15 percentage points in comparison to 2011 (from 47.4% to 61.5%)
- Overall, voter turnout among eligible voters increased by 7.6 percentage points in comparison to 2011 (58.5% to 66.1%), which means that 2 out of every 3 Canadians voted in 2015
- In BC, overall turnout among eligible voters increased by over 12 points (55.9% to 68.2%)
- Note that the previously released official voter turnout of 68.3% nationally reflects turnout among registered voters, rather than eligible voters
- In BC, overall turnout among eligible voters increased by over 12 points (55.9% to 68.2%)
In other election-related news, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Mark Mayrand, announced earlier this month that he’s stepping down in order to make way for a successor who will be tasked with the - in our view, enormous - task of modernizing the Canadian electoral processes. Mr. Mayrand is Canada’s 6th Chief Electoral Officer since the establishment of this position nearly a hundred years ago (in 1920).
Check out all the numbers for yourself:
Voter Turnout by Sex and Age (broken down by province and territory)
Also, check out the reports about how and why people, including youth, make the decision to vote or not:
Reasons for Not Voting During the 42nd General Election: Results from the Labour Force Survey
(Please excuse the number of exclamation marks and any mathematical errors: both are attributable to our excitement over this data!)