Parry Sounds ~ Ideas and Opinions, In and Around Parry Sound

With the sprouting of election signs in the Town of Parry Sound it’s pretty apparent that municipal elections are not too far away. In a series of weekly posts I’ll take a look at elections past and election impending. In this first post I’ll review some of the numbers from the 2010 and 2014 Town of Parry Sound elections. The numbers in this post have all been publicly released although some now are seemingly hard or impossible to find on the Town’s website.

2010 & 2014 Vote Totals

The Town of Parry Sound election permits registered voters to select one individual for the position of Mayor and to select six individuals to serve on Council. No voter is required to vote for mayor, nor are they required to select as many as six individuals for council.

The table above summarizes the vote totals for 2010 and 2014. The numbers are remarkably similar. Even though e-voting was introduced in 2014 there was no real uptick in the number of individuals who voted. (Note: The Council “Votes Eligible” figures for 2010 and 2014 reflect that it was possible for voters to cast 6 votes each. More on these figures in the next post.)

2014 Votes Segmented

The chart below summarizes 2014 voter participation by age and sex. A quick look at the data reveals that the highest voting participation was in the group of voters between the age of 40 to 89, averaging 60% and above. There is little difference in the participation rate by sex, except for women in their 40s who voted at almost double the rate of men in that same age group.

The chart below summarizes the number of eligible voters in 2014 by age group.

Councillor Voting Results – 2010 and 2014

The two charts below summarize the distribution of votes received by candidates for Town of Parry Sound Council in 2010 and 2014. There is a remarkably smooth drop off in the number of votes and it seems that receiving 1,000 votes is the threshold for election, with 1,200 almost a guarantee of election. This 1,200 vote figure amounts to receiving a vote from 50% of the folks who actually showed up to vote. (Green bars indicate candidates elected.)