The citizens made their decision on Monday. When all the votes were counted, the turnout was higher than four years ago. Four years earlier, 2,639 votes were tabulated in Fort Frances. I was expecting a much higher turnout for this year.
Fewer than 50 per cent of eligible Fort Frances residents had cast their vote on Monday, which suggests that the majority of citizens are either satisfied with the actions of council or don’t feel their vote will make a difference.
Both the radio and the newspaper have worked tirelessly along with the municipality and the candidates to get people to cast their ballots. Everyone had received ballots in the mail. I hope that a good number were not misplaced.
Last week, when I was speaking with a young voter in Fort Frances, the person had no idea who the two candidates for mayor were and only had one person he could identify as a candidate for council. He had not viewed any of the literature, was not a social media user and had not thought about voting. He is not alone.
To assist candidates in the 444 Ontario municipal elections, the province put together plans and ideas to run successful campaigns in this year’s election. Fort Frances has experienced one of its most competitive elections ever. Both mayoral candidates and councillor candidates have used social media effectively. All candidates began their campaigns early with lawn signs. All candidates had effective literature. They were following the guidelines available to them.
The low number of voters has left a mystery in my mind. The first mystery is how candidates work to engage voters, especially young voters in today’s world. In small towns, road signs and knocking on doors used to be the most important tools in a candidate’s bag, along with literature. Not so much today.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are new channels to speak to the public, and even on those different platforms, people separate into subgroups. We have witnessed the use of artificial intelligence {AI} to deliver messages on those social channels. In the future, AI will be more common.
The second question is why municipal voters choose not to be more interested in the operations of their towns. In all towns and cities across Ontario, councils have more say in what affects every voter’s daily lives. In winter, snowplowing, de-icing and clearing of sidewalks are of paramount importance. Delivering potable water and maintaining sewers to all households is of paramount importance. Across the community, all the services delivered by the community impact everyone daily.
If you didn’t cast a vote or find time to learn about the candidates, shame on you. All 11 candidates put their names forward to create a better Fort Frances for today and tomorrow. They all deserved your consideration. Good luck to this new council.
