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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The chief electoral officer for the NWT says no one factor can be blamed for the decrease in voter turnout during this year's territorial election.

On Oct. 3, voting in the territorial election took place at the Fort Smith Rec Centre, along with many other sites throughout the NWT. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

David Brock said voter turnout is a concern right across Canada, not just in the NWT.

The number of people who cast ballots on Oct. 3 decreased by about 1,500, compared to the territorial election four years ago. Throughout the NWT, just 11,787 votes were cast out of the 24,577 names on the voters' list. That works out to a 48 per cent turnout, compared to 67 per cent in 2007.

There was particularly low voter turnout in Yellowknife, where just 34.2 per cent of voters cast a ballot in six contested districts, compared to a 60.6 per cent turnout in the rest of the NWT.

"I can say that we have seen a trend not only in this election but in past elections where voter turnout tends to be lower in Yellowknife than in other electoral districts in the Northwest Territories, but I can't provide an explanation as to why that is," Brock said. "I think anyone who has spent time looking at reasons why people may or may not cast a ballot and overall voter turnout recognizes that it's a multivariate issue and a complex one at that. So I think to off the top ascribe any singular or even small set of reasons would risk inaccuracy."

Brock said that includes pointing to new voter identification rules.

"I know that one of the arguments and concerns that was brought forth in the assembly when they were considering introducing photo identification requirements was that it would disproportionally negatively affect smaller communities in the Northwest Territories where it can be more difficult to attain necessary identification," he said.

He noted there was actually higher turnout in some of the smallest communities compared to larger centres.

"It goes against the argument that voter ID had an effect on voter turnout, or at least an effect that is statistically significant," he said.

The new rules required voters to show one piece of photo identification or two pieces of ID from an approved list - one proving identity and the other proving a person's address.

Brock said he is aware of only one individual, a man in Inuvik, who claims to have left a polling station without voting after being requested to show identification.

There was also some grumbling about the voters' list after the election, including concerns names of some deceased people being on the list.

However, Brock said he has not heard of any problems caused by that fact.

"I do not know of any one specific case where an individual said they would not cast their ballot because of a deceased name," he said. "In fact, I can't tell you of a specific deceased name that was on the list."

Brock noted Elections NWT changed its enumeration procedure in 2011 to what's known as a continuous or open voters' list.

"As part of that, a continuous voters' list which we now have requires continuous attention. That's an important point," he said.

Brock said the voters' list increased by 20 per cent in terms of completeness. "We now believe that the number of names on the list is much closer to the actual number of eligible electors in the territory, but I agree that there is work to do to improve the accuracy of the list."

The list is constantly updated during the inter-election period, rather than just in an enumeration in advance of a general election.

Elections NWT does that by accessing various data sources, including the national register of electors, municipal voters' lists and some government data sets.

One of the approved sources of information is the GNWT's vital statistics.

"So any person who dies in the Northwest Territories that information is gathered by us and the list can be updated from that source, but we do not have, as of yet, the vital statistics names of decedents from individuals who may have lived in the Northwest Territories and died while out of territory, whether they had moved to another province or territory or happened to pass away while they were elsewhere," Brock noted.

Elections NWT had online voter registration between March and August of 2011, making the NWT only the third jurisdiction in Canada to have online voter registration.

In advance of this year's vote, Elections NWT also undertook a communications campaign, including through public service announcements in five languages. Voter information cards were also sent to all households.

"We put major emphasis on the use of our website, as well as our Facebook site," Brock said, noting that, on the evening of Oct. 3, the website recorded more than 32,000 hits in a single hour.

Now that the election is over, Brock has to file two reports with the speaker of the legislative assembly.

The first will be a statistical report on official voting results.

The second report, due within six months of polling day, will be a broader look at the election and may include recommendations to improve the process or even to revise the Elections and Plebiscites Act, Brock noted. "I think it would be in that latter report where, if anywhere, any aspect of the electoral machinery would be commented upon in a more substantive way."

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