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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The vast majority of eligible voters in Yellowknife abstained from exercising their right - and some might say their civic duty - to vote in Monday's territorial election.

Frame Lake candidate Duff Spence gets some support from son Declan and campaign manager Bill Braden as he gets election results from scrutineers Monday night. Spence took his loss in stride but expressed disappointment at the low voter turnout. Frame Lake has had the lowest voter turnout in the NWT since 1999 after registering a record low this year with just 29.96 per cent of the electorate. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo Voter turnout by percentage 2007 - 2011 Frame Lake - 45.27/29.96 Great Slave - 56.73/39.96 Kam Lake - 50.12/30.78 Range Lake - 52.11/35.94 Weledeh - 80.11/33.67 Yellowknife Centre - 61.34/34.63 Yellowknife South - 57.36/Acclaimed Source: Elections NWT

A mere 34.16 per cent of registered Yellowknife electors went to the polls, with Great Slave recording the highest voter turnout at 39.96 per cent and Frame Lake recording the lowest voter turnout, as it has since 1999, at 29.96 per cent.

Though it is generally considered a challenge to unseat an incumbent in the NWT's system of consensus government, long-standing frustration with the deteriorating state of Northland trailer park gave the impression candidate Duff Spence could unseat incumbent Wendy Bisaro.

In the end, however, Bisaro garnered 55 per cent of the vote and was thus re-elected through the will of 16.43 per cent of registered voters in Frame Lake.

"It's a question of legitimacy of the democracy, isn't it?" asked Tim Doyle, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.

"People have an obligation to get out there and vote and if they don't like the candidates they can spoil a ballot and that's still a vote."

Suzette Montreuil of Alternatives North agreed. There has been speculation but no definitive answers to explain the low voter turnout throughout the city.

Doyle, Montreuil and Mayor Gord Van Tighem all agreed, however, the causes were likely many and varied.

"You end a lackluster legislative assembly with a lackluster election," said Van Tighem. "There's, I guess, a general feeling that things weren't super bad, there weren't any huge issues."

Though voter turnout likely reached a record low, the mayor said a lack of motivation on the part of voters has been fairly typical for Yellowknife over the past 15 to 20 years. Van Tighem confirmed that he cast his vote Monday afternoon.

Doyle was more pointed in his criticisms.

"Elections NWT is partially to blame because they're slowly scaling back their operations ... I think they have to find ways to engage people. They're taking it out of the public eye," he said.

"They should be reminding people: take your hour and go out and vote throughout the day."

The tone of much of the past month's campaigning, which Doyle likened to "the American style of politics," likely alienated some voters, he said.

"This particular political campaigning was amongst the dirtiest campaigning I've ever seen in my life ... at times it was just downright disgusting," he said, adding that he knew of candidates receiving death threats to their families.

Many voters, said Doyle, are simply interested in what their candidate has to offer.

"Tell us what you see as being the issues and how you're going to fix them ... When they're not seeing that in a campaign they just devote their attentions elsewhere."

Weledeh, which saw incumbent Bob Bromley triumph in a landslide victory over competitor Mark Bogan, recorded the most substantial decrease in voter turnout, down to 33.67 per cent from 80.11 per cent in 2007.

"We heard from a number of people that they just weren't going to vote down in Weledeh because there were only two candidates and they didn't feel that either of them represented their viewpoint," said Doyle.

In 2007, four candidates faced off for the riding.

There were other hypotheses.

Montreuil thought the territories might be suffering from a case of voter fatigue merely five months after the federal election.

The transient nature of Yellowknife's population, which can lead voters to feel less invested, could have been another factor, she said.

There may also have been confusion resulting from some polling stations changing location.

Doyle said he had experienced long lineups at the polling station in his riding of Kam Lake and thought the wait may have discouraged some would-be voters.

Ultimately, however, Doyle said he thought the main issue was increasing voter dissatisfaction with consensus government.

"Personally I don't believe it works," he said. "You don't get to choose your premier ... it's almost like a big, giant municipal council where you don't have a plan being laid out by one party over another. There is no plan for the Northwest Territories ... it almost appears as if the NWT is wandering aimlessly, year after year after year."

David Brock, chief electoral officer of Elections NWT did not take phone calls Tuesday but responded to the issue by e-mail, saying "Elections NWT improved the completeness of the voters list by 20 per cent. For this reason, voter turnout statistics should be cautiously interpreted."

"Northerners should be proud of our democracy," he added. "Our general elections were free and fair, voting opportunities were accessible to eligible electors and the results were swiftly communicated directly to Northerners."

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