Trail voters came to the polls in slightly higher numbers last month compared to four years ago, according to the final report of the city’s chief elections officer.
David Moorhead presented his report to council this week, which noted that the city provided two advance voting opportunities, three special voting opportunities at various care facilities, and the option of mail ballots, in addition to general voting day.
The city relied on the provincial voters list, which had 6,092 names. It was supplemented with 80 new registered electors and 11 non-resident voters for a total of 6,183 eligible voters. A total of 2,315 valid ballots were cast, which is a turnout of 37.4 per cent.
That was higher than the provincial average of 32.8 per cent and the 2022 turnout in Trail of 36.9 per cent. But it was lower than the 2018 local turnout of 39 per cent and the 2014 turnout of 49 per cent. The report noted that the 2014 figure could have been boosted by the inclusion on the ballot of a referendum on building the new library and museum.
One option that flopped this time was mail ballots: the city only received two applications by the deadline and only one returned ballot. “Mail ballots are an administratively burdensome method of voting,” Moorhead wrote. “It will be important to evaluate the need of this opportunity in 2030.”
The cost of carrying out the election was $23,665, which was within the approved budget of $25,000. Equipment and supplies accounted for about half of that, while paying election workers was another $9,100. Advertising took up the rest.
The city also received $2,500 from the Kootenay Columbia school district under a cost sharing agreement. There was no need to hold elections in the school district this year, because all the candidates were acclaimed. Had an election been necessary, the school district would have covered one-third of the cost.
