Voter turnout drops in 'uncompetitive' Halifax election

Fewerthan a third of the eligible voters in theHalifax Regional Municipality cast ballotsin the election that ended Saturday, according to early results.

About 29.7 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.That's a drop of7.2percentage points from 2012when 36.9per cent voted.

Halifax won't have official numbers until Tuesday, but to reach an approximatecount,municipal spokesman Brendan Elliott suggested comparingthe number of votes for mayor, 90,418, tothe number of eligible voters, 304,652.

'Boring and uncompetitive'

The drop in interest this election was foreseen byMark Coffin, executive director of the non-partisan charity Springtide Collective, which promotes democracy engagement.

Almost a quarter of Nova Scotia municipal seats up for grabsin this electionwere acclaimed, Coffin said.

"There's no contest. That, by very definition, is boring and uncompetitive," he said.

Low incentive

In Halifax, four seats were acclaimed, and the "incentive's lower" to vote inthe mayor's race, consideringthepopularity ofincumbent Mike Savage, Coffin said.

Research shows, he said, that people will voteif they believe that vote will make a difference. For example, engagement was higher duringBarackObama's2008 U.S. campaignandlast year'sfederal election with JustinTrudeauagainst Stephen Harper.

'Very blurry' ideology

That excitement is key, becauseeven for contested races, the difference between candidates can be hard to distinguish, Coffin said.

"There's less of an ideological element to municipal politics. Left and right is very blurry," he said.

"It becomes more of a question of managementin some cases, rather than values and ideology."

The low turnout wasn't consistent across the province. In the Town of Berwickmore than half of eligible voters cast a ballot.

Many municipalities and towns offered online and phone voting ahead of Election Day, along with advance polls.

This year, as well, voters were not required to show identification or proof of address at poll stations, in an effort to make voting as accessible as possible.