Defenders of democracy could weep. Voter turnout for Thursday's Ontario Election hit a new low.
According to Elections Ontario, only 43.5 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, the lowest turnout in the province's history.
For comparison, the previous low was in 2011, when just 48 per cent voted.
Turnout has been falling steadily for decades. In 1977, it was more common to vote than not. Sixty-six per cent of Ontario residents who could cast a ballot did.
By the early 2000s, that had fallen to half of the eligible voters.
In some ridings, less than a third of the electorate voted. In the riding of Kiiwetinoong, just 28.6 per cent voted.
Kiiwetinoong is a sparsely populated riding in Ontario's extreme northwest, but the results aren't much better in the extreme south. Windsor West also saw a disappointing turnout at just 33.3 per cent. That riding has among the highest rates of child poverty rates in Canada, where participation in democracy may hold the key to improved fortunes.
Elsewhere in Windsor-Essex, four in ten voters exercised their franchise in Windsor-Tecumseh. Its turnout was 40.3 per cent. In Chatham-Kent-Leamington, 42.2 per cent of eligible residents voted.
Essex had the highest turnout in the region at 47 per cent.
