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28 stouffville suntribune thursday oct 16 2003 mi municipal elections hard sell turnout of 40 considered high free water saving devices from york region its easy i its fast wm success york region wants to help you save water and money by installing water saving devices in your home installation takes about 15 minutes appointments can be made at a time thats convenient for yon this program has been successful in saving water for allresidentsof york regionso geton board 224m0 tolfcis retrofitted 97090 showers retrofitted water wiisi gallnqw to see if you qualify local to richmond hio 9057717192 other areas call 18002154060 s wwwwaterfortomorrowoom low flow showerhead water saving toilet flapper mtoj9i617i litres per day n counting ajofftoraiy200j by roy green staff writer theres an urban legend about a man showing up at the polls at a municipal election in a small ontario town demand ing to know why he couldnt cast his vote for royal lepage even if it isnt true it is at least a near- truth in the sug gestion people will vote for any old name oh a sign during an election but at least this apocryphal voter went to the polls some thing fewer and fewer people seem to be doing in the justcompleted provincial election dalton mcguihtys liberals tallied 19 million votes the tories about 13 million and the ndp about 650000 but apathy was the real winner with about 39 million ontarians choosing to stayaway from the polls about 55 per cent of eligible voters participated in me elec tion which is not a record low but is less than the 583 per cent recorded in the 1999 provincial election and the 613 per cent average from ontario elections from 1980 to 1999 the only province in which fewer people vote is alberta which had an average turribut of 562 per cent over that period and this was in spite of an elections ontario tv advertising i campaign backed up by print adsih 26 languages its clear theres a tremendous amount of cyni cism that votes dont count in v whichcase you need to raise awareness about that said john wright a senior vice- president at the polling firm ipsosreid the decline in ontario is part of an overall decrease across canada while 525 million people voted for the liberal party of canada in the 2000 federal election 825 million did not vote at all according to fair vote canada national voter turnout has gone from 77 per cent in the 1972 federal elec tion to 61 per cent in 2000 lack of interest a report conducted by the federal government last march asked nori- voters about their reasons for not marking a bal lot the top reasons given were jack of interest in the election negative attitudes toward poli tics and personal or adminis trative factors and the situation is even worse in municipal elections where the average voter turnout is 30 to 35 per cent even with some hot may oralty races the voter turnout in york regions nine munici palities in 2000 averaged a lit tle more than 40 per cent one of the best election results in my ward achieved over 35 per cent and that was considered a good turnout said richmond hill councillor vifo spatafbra f usually its closer to 25 per cent only at quarter 6f the people and mats pretty pathetic newmarket regional coun- ciuor diane humeniuk agrees only w weeks until christmas delivery time running out certified amish made no taxes or no gstno interest no payments up to 12 months it vote provincially but i dont even know whos running municipally r geny meharg stouffville resident you get a much lower turnout municipally even though the municipal govern ment is the closest to the voter she said people feel their vote isnt going to make a difference but it does she added a specialist in urban poli tics believes it is an unusual situation voter turnout in municipal elections is a real paradox said ryerson university professor myer siemiatycki of all our levels of government we make it hardest to cast an intelligent ballot at the municipal level party politics at the federal and provincial levels make it easier to decide he r said municipal voters by contrast vote for a mayor ward coun cillors and school board trustees none of whom run on official party labels richmond hill councillor nick papa said low voter turnout is not always a sigh of voter apathy a lot of newcomers dont understand the system i can sense it when i go around knocking on doors its not that they dont want to vote they just dont understand if a brief and unscientific telephone sampling of voters in york region this week revealed only two of 15 respondents knew the candi dates in their ridings and only one knew who would get her vote j i will go out andvote for a candidate in my ending because she respbnded a concern i had at vqne time said doris dobson of woodbridge i the more common response was morelikethat of stouffvilles gerry meharg i dont follow municipal elections mr meharg said i vote provincially but i dont evenv know whos running municipally v solid cherry save an adfflfbnal3 off x 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