Castlegar’s chief elections officer for the 2022 municipal election has released a report focused on ballots and voting during the election.

Nicole Brown shared the report with the city’s new council on Nov. 7.

Final figures showed voter turnout was just 29 per cent — down by eight per cent from the 2021 byelection and down 17 per cent compared to the 2018 regular election which saw a turn out of over 46 per cent.

The city had a total of 6316 eligible voters, including 71 new registrations and 24 non-resident property electors.

A total of 1852 votes were cast.

Almost one-third of the votes (544) were cast on advance voting days.

Only 22 people requested mail-in ballots, but all of them returned their completed ballots.

The city provided special voting opportunities at area long-term care facilities, and 43 people took advantage of the option.

The remaining 1243 ballots were cast on general voting day.

A reconciliation of ballots showed that all of the ballots were accounted for. There were no rejected ballots.

Staffing demands

Brown estimated that about 550 staff hours were spent preparing for and administering the local election.

The Oct. 5 and 12 advanced voting polls were staffed with five election officials. Special voting opportunities were staffed by the chief elections officer and a deputy. General voting day took nine election officials.

The budget for the election was set at $40,000, but as all invoices have not been received, a final report on the finances for the election will be presented at a future date.

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betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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