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Find sources: "Voter turnout in Canada" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Voter turnout is the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in an election. The following presents voter turnout figures for Canada's general elections as compiled by Elections Canada.
It is important to differentiate between the percentage of eligible voters and the percentage of voters relative to the entire population (see chart below). For example, in 1867, 73.1% of eligible voters voted, which represented only 8.3% of the total population. When women got the vote in 1918, 67.7% of eligible voters voted, which represented 35.8% of the total population, a huge jump from previous elections.
When low turnout reflects disenchantment or indifference, the election may not be an accurate reflection of the will of the people. Low turnouts can lead to unequal representation among various parts of the population. In developed countries, non-voters tend to be concentrated in particular demographic and socioeconomic groups, especially the young and the poor.
Voter turnouts and voting behaviour are two fundamental elements of elections in order to have a fully functioning democracy. The voting behaviour of electorates has a large impact on the voter turnout and certain areas of behaviour can cause a low turnout in votes. The voter turnout for recent (post 2019) elections have declined and there is debate as to why this has happened. Examples of short term influences of voting behaviour on voter turnout in Canada are as follows:[1]
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Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
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| Date of election | Population[a] | Number of electors on list | Total ballots cast | Voter turnout as percentage of electors | Voter turnout as percentage of total population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867-08-07 | 3,230,000 | 361,028 | 268,387 | 73.1% | 8.3% |
| 1872-07-20 | 3,689,000 | 426,974 | 318,329 | 70.3% | 8.6% |
| 1874-01-22 | 3,689,000 | 432,410 | 324,006 | 69.6% | 8.8% |
| 1878-09-17 | 3,689,000 | 715,279 | 534,029 | 69.1% | 14.5% |
| 1882-06-20 | 4,325,000 | 663,873 | 508,496 | 70.3% | 11.8% |
| 1887-02-22 | 4,325,000 | 948,222 | 724,517 | 70.1% | 16.8% |
| 1891-03-05 | 4,833,000 | 1,113,140 | 778,495 | 64.4% | 16.1% |
| 1896-06-23 | 4,833,000 | 1,358,328 | 912,992 | 62.9% | 18.9% |
| 1900-11-07 | 4,833,000 | 1,167,402 | 958,497 | 77.4% | 19.8% |
| 1904-11-03 | 5,371,000 | 1,385,440 | 1,036,878 | 71.6% | 19.3% |
| 1908-10-26 | 5,371,000 | 1,463,591 | 1,180,820 | 70.3% | 22.0% |
| 1911-09-21 | 7,204,527 | 1,820,742 | 1,314,953 | 70.2% | 18.3% |
| 1917-12-17 | 7,591,971 | 2,093,799 | 1,892,741 | 75.0% | 24.9% |
| 1921-12-06 | 8,760,211 | 4,435,310 | 3,139,306 | 67.7% | 35.8% |
| 1925-10-29 | 8,776,352 | 4,608,636 | 3,168,412 | 66.4% | 36.1% |
| 1926-09-14 | 8,887,952 | 4,665,381 | 3,273,062 | 67.7% | 36.8% |
| 1930-07-28 | 8,887,952 | 5,153,971 | 3,922,481 | 73.5% | 44.1% |
| 1935-10-14 | 10,367,063 | 5,918,207 | 4,452,675 | 74.2% | 43.0% |
| 1940-03-26 | 10,429,169 | 6,588,888 | 4,672,531 | 69.9% | 44.8% |
| 1945-06-11 | 11,494,627 | 6,952,445 | 5,305,193 | 75.3% | 46.2% |
| 1949-06-27 | 11,823,649 | 7,893,629 | 5,903,572 | 73.8% | 49.9% |
| 1953-08-10 | 14,003,704 | 8,401,691 | 5,701,963 | 67.5% | 40.7% |
| 1957-06-10 | 16,073,970 | 8,902,125 | 6,680,690 | 74.1% | 41.6% |
| 1958-03-31 | 16,073,970 | 9,131,200 | 7,357,139 | 79.4% | 45.8% |
| 1962-06-18 | 18,238,247 | 9,700,325 | 7,772,656 | 79.0% | 42.61% |
| 1963-04-08 | 18,238,247 | 9,910,757 | 7,958,636 | 79.2% | 43.6% |
| 1965-11-08 | 18,238,247 | 10,274,904 | 7,796,728 | 74.8% | 42.7% |
| 1968-06-25 | 20,014,880 | 10,860,888 | 8,217,916 | 75.7% | 41.1% |
| 1972-10-30 | 21,568,311 | 13,000,778 | 9,974,661 | 76.7% | 46.2% |
| 1974-07-08 | 21,568,311 | 13,620,353 | 9,671,002 | 71.0% | 44.8% |
| 1979-05-22 | 22,992,604 | 15,233,653 | 11,541,000 | 75.7% | 50.2% |
| 1980-02-18 | 22,992,604 | 15,890,416 | 11,015,514 | 69.3% | 47.9% |
| 1984-09-04 | 24,343,181 | 16,774,941 | 12,638,424 | 75.3% | 51.9% |
| 1988-11-21 | 25,309,331 | 17,639,001 | 13,281,191 | 75.3% | 52.5% |
| 1993-10-25 | 27,296,859 | 19,906,796 | 13,863,135 | 69.6% | 50.8% |
| 1997-06-02 | 27,296,859 | 19,663,478 | 13,174,698 | 67.0% | 48.3% |
| 2000-11-27 | 28,846,761 | 21,243,473 | 12,997,185 | 61.3% | 45.1% |
| 2004-06-28 | 30,007,094 | 22,466,621 | 13,683,570 | 60.9% | 45.6% |
| 2006-01-23 | 30,007,094 | 23,054,615 | 14,908,703 | 64.7% | 49.7% |
| 2008-10-14 | 31,612,897 | 23,677,639 | 13,929,093 | 58.8% | 44.1% |
| 2011-05-02 | 33,476,688 | 24,257,592 | 14,823,408 | 61.1% | 44.3% |
| 2015-10-19 | 35,702,908 | 25,939,742 | 17,711,983 | 68.3% | 49.5% |
| 2019-10-21 | 37,601,230 | 27,373,058 | 18,350,359 | 67.0% | 48.8% |
| 2021-09-20 | 38,246,108 | 27,366,297 | 17,034,328 | 62.2% | 44.5% |
