‘It’s your civic responsibility to get out and vote’: Early voter turnout numbers for Northumberland
By editor/reporter Sarah Hyatt
Election night is just around the corner, and as of mid-week, west Northumberland communities are already reporting high early voter turnout numbers.
In the Municipality of Port Hope – which had the second highest voter turnout for the 2022 election across Northumberland County – by late morning Wednesday (Oct. 21), about 16.4 per cent of electors had already cast their ballots.
Meanwhile, in Cobourg, voter turnout had reached 21 per cent – and in this instance, represented the town reaching the halfway point in comparison to 2022 figures.
And in the Township of Hamilton, as of Wednesday afternoon, voter turnout was being reported at nearly nine per cent, while in Alnwick/Haldimand, about 16.5 per cent of residents had already cast their ballots as of a little later that afternoon. (These were the latest figures available at the Independent’s press deadline.)
Advance voting just opened in these communities last Friday morning (Oct. 16) and will remain open until 8 p.m. on election day, which is Monday, Oct. 26.
In other words, these preliminary figures represent a little more than five days’ worth of data, and likely are attributed to several factors.
“I would say one thing I really want people to understand is that, you know, this is a really, really important election,” said Port Hope municipal clerk and returning officer Shrishma Davé, while catching up on numbers with the Independent and in response to an ask for key public messages at this point in the election. “This is your community, right – it’s your civic responsibility to get out and vote.”
Davé is among those urging voters to get out there and learn about their candidates, stressing there’s still time, and a lot of resources easily accessible, such as porthopevotes.ca and the municipal “Meet the Candidates” dedicated webpage.
In Port Hope alone, there are 16 candidates on the ballot.
“Voting is so easy – you can vote by internet or telephone – so you can vote from the comfort of your own home,” explained Davé.
If you do run into trouble, Port Hope, like every other west-end municipality, also has voter assistance centres (or similar operations) set up where people can get help casting ballots or if they’re missing their voter information letters, or if people just need access to Internet, et cetera.
In Port Hope, the 16.4 per cent of people who had already cast their ballots as of Wednesday morning represents 17 per cent of Ward 1 voters and 14.8 per cent of voters in Ward 2, Davé told the Independent.
And these numbers “are going up regularly” (and will have changed when the Independent prints Friday.)
However, at press deadline, that 16.4 percentage and breakdown “is very much par for the course.”
“In 2022, at a similar time, we were actually at 13.8 per cent, so we’re doing better than we did in 2022,” said Davé, who described a “very engaged community” this election cycle.
This also marks Port Hope’s third regular municipal election utilizing internet and telephone voting since 2018, and these methods were also used in the 2024 Ward 2 byelection.
Feedback at the voter assistance centres has been overwhelmingly positive, with most people saying it’s an easy process, noted Davé, who believes these are factors for voter engagement so far. (Operating hours and dates for the centres are also accessible via porthopevotes.ca and on voter information letters.)
“We’ve got election officials there – these are people who are trained election officials – they’ve taken all of the appropriate oaths of secrecy. And so, they’re there to assist voters …”
Davé is also hopeful Port Hope will surpass its 2022 voter turnout of nearly 43 per cent. Port Hope had the highest turnout for the west end of the county and placed second across the county, falling behind Brighton with a 46.7 voter turnout rate.
To put this in perspective, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, average provincial voter turnout was 32.9 per cent for the 2022 election, representing a dip from 38.3 per cent in 2018.
“The main thing is please get out and vote because this is your community. The decisions that council makes will impact the future (and it only takes) a few minutes to cast your ballot,” urged Davé.
Meanwhile, in Cobourg, reaching about 21 per cent voter turnout as of Wednesday morning was “pretty good” in the words of Brent Larmer, election returning officer and the town’s director of legislative services and municipal clerk.
“We’re halfway to the previous voter turnout (in the 2022 municipal election) which was 40.9 per cent …” Larmer told the Independent. “We’re expecting to be on track, and maybe a little more.
“We tend to see the midweek (timeframe) during an advance voting period slow (down) a little bit and then for the weekend, from Friday to Monday, we see a larger uptake in voting,” he explained.
Cobourg has also set up three voter information centres, which Larmer said are being well-received. This includes the addition of the Cobourg Community Centre as a location since the town removed telephone voting for the 2026 election, he noted.
“We’ve seen several hundred voters come through them.”
Larmer said the team at the town has also been active in getting the message out about the importance of voting.
“I think that we’ve done an early and robust job to make sure that all eligible electors feel comfortable and know when and how to vote.”
While he can’t speak about candidates and their campaigns and whether or not they have an impact on voter turnout, he said: “I think we’ve done a good job to try and push out the vote.”
The town also has www.CobourgVotes.ca set up to help voters.
Cobourg also has a high number of candidates running – 17 total – which combined with the Township of Hamilton’s seven candidates, and Alnwick/Haldimand’s 10 candidates, translates to about 50 people putting their names forward for the 2026 municipal and school board election in the western portion of Northumberland. (Note: In our earlier editions leading up to the elections, we extended opportunities to all 50 candidates and featured 45 candidate profiles, as well as previously listed all certified candidates prior.)
Meanwhile, if you add in Brighton and Cramahe’s 12 candidates each, and another 20 in Trent Hills, this year’s election means 94 council candidates alone have tossed their hats into the ring to serve on the next four-year 2026-30 council term.
Back in west Northumberland, the election in the Township of Hamilton is also generating early interest.
“Current voter turnout as of 12:20 p.m. (Wednesday) is 8.9 per cent – that is 960 of 10,789 eligible electors,” deputy clerk Amanda Millar told the Independent. “In 2022, final voter turnout was 27.1 per cent.”
Voting in the Township of Hamilton can be done online or by telephone, and officials are encouraging residents to cast their ballots early with 24/7 voting options from virtually anywhere available.
And in the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand, returning officer/municipal clerk Emily Cartlidge said voter turnout was recorded at 16.5 per cent as of Wednesday afternoon. This represents 1,289 of 7,790 eligible voters, with the total eligible voters still subject to change until 8 p.m. on Oct. 26, she explained.
About 10.5 per cent or 821 residents cast their ballots in just the first three days after advanced voting opened last Friday. Voter turnout for the last election was reported at 35.3 per cent. Voting online or by phone are also options in Alnwick/Haldimand.
- With files from Natalie Hamilton
EDITOR’S NOTE: Read on for additional election night information in this week’s edition and on election night, you can follow the team on Facebook and results online via www.granthaven.com/west-northumberland.
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