And the picture is not a very pretty one. Out of the ten provinces, in the most recent provincial general election, Newfoundland and Labrador had a voter turnout of 57.9 percent, or sixth out of the ten:
Prov
|
Election
|
Turnout
|
Rank
|
BC
|
2013
|
57.1
|
7
|
AB
|
2012
|
57.0
|
8
|
SK
|
2011
|
66.0
|
3
|
MB
|
2011
|
55.8
|
9
|
ON
|
2014
|
52.1
|
10
|
QC
|
2014
|
71.4
|
2
|
NB
|
2014
|
65.4
|
4
|
NS
|
2013
|
59.0
|
5
|
PE
|
2011
|
76.5
|
1
|
NL
|
2011
|
57.9
|
6
|
And, as noted by one of the very papers that the much-maligned (for no good reason) Samara study cites, between 1965 and 2009, Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial voter turnout averaged 71.1%... again, sixth out of the ten provinces:
Maybe there's some evidence of high voter engagement that Samara missed, and which would put paid to their conclusions.
The provincial voter-turnout record is not that evidence.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians aren't more politically engaged than others, at least measured by turnout.
ReplyDeleteThey turn out more for provincial than federal elections.
Personally, I thought the study was a useful smack to conventional wisdom, which is, not surprisingly, anything but wise. The issue needs more study.