With voters already casting ballots at advanced polls ahead of election day on October 26, a University of Windsor political scientist says municipal governments have the biggest impact on residents’ daily lives, but often attract the fewest voters.
Lydia Miljan says local governments are responsible for many services people rely on every day, making it important for voters to learn about candidates and their records before casting a ballot.
“It’s roads, it’s the sewage, it’s the water treatment, and they need to look at what is the track record of the the current administration, who voted for things that they are interested in, and who against things that they’re interested in,” Miljan said.
Miljan encourages voters to review candidate platforms, compare answers from election surveys and pay attention to the races that directly affect them, including council, mayoral and school board contests.
She says one reason turnout remains low is that municipal elections require voters to do more research on their own.
“In municipal races, usually it is a lot on you to figure out where they stand. You have to sort of read between the lines because they don’t want to seem that they’re part of a specific political party. But because of that, it’s harder for you to know whether or not they align with how you vote normally. That’s why you have to sort of look at the issues,” Miljan said.
Only about a third of eligible voters cast ballots in Windsor’s 2022 municipal election.
Miljan says that level of participation is concerning, but not unusual, and adds perceptions about predictable outcomes can also discourage participation.
“Whenever there looks like an interesting race, that sometimes increases voter turn out. But when you have the same people always getting re-elected, sometimes people figure, well it’s not going to matter if I vote or not and that tends to suppress the turn out,” she said.
Miljan says some local races could attract added attention this year because of high-profile candidates, although she believes public focus may be divided by other political events, including the ongoing attention being paid to U.S. politics.