Discussions

Dismal that the turnout didn't even crack 20% as this article states.  
 
And the City of Brandon election official said they couldn't secure vote tabulators?  
 
Hand counted ballots went well into the middle of the night and the City released unofficial results at 3:00 a.m.  
 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/low-voter-turnout-brandon-1.6632292

I was speaking with one of the volunteers at my polling station and she suggested that the only ones who received cards were those affected by the change of boundaries.

It had NOTHING to do with liking the status quo! There wasn't a single candidate for anything that bothered to knock on my door. They were beyond lazy. There was one candidate for the school board, ONE, that took the time to have a brochure printed and put in my mailbox. In 8 years Rick Chrest did nothing. Fawcett will likely do the same damn thing. He couldn't answer a single bloody question asked of him. Why would I waste my time voting for someone like that.

We are guilty of not voting, this go around. We always vote, but was no point this time. Our Ward had no one running against him, so he was already in place. Nothing to vote for there. School division trustees, don’t matter anymore to us. And only 2 vastly different people running for mayor, and we didn’t want either. We need more options.  
Felt like a waste of time in my opinion, so we didn’t bother.

I hear what you're saying. I almost didn't vote this go for similar reasons.  
 
But  
 
This comes back to the ideas of apathy vs protest. A *lot* of people didn't vote due to lack of information, lack or caring or some combination of both. In your case, it's not that you didn't care per se, it's just that you didn't care for your choices in the end.  
 
There is always the option of voting "none of the above". In federal and municipal elections you have no choice but to purposely spoil your ballot, but in provincial elections you can "decline" your ballot for this purpose.  
 
Having 80% of your population not even showing up to vote is a difference message than 20 or more showing up and voting "none of the above". There are always spoiled ballots of accidental reasons, but they are usually only a handful. If there's Very Large Proportion, it starts to become a message.  
 
(end of PSA)

In the municipality of Souris Glenwood we had a great local election. We had 2 candidates running for mayor, and 10 candidates running for 6 at large positions as councillors. The last census had the population at just under 2600, and voter turnout was over 1000 people.  
We had the candidates present themselves in the newspaper, and the Chamber Of Commerce put on a meet and greet evening, where candidates answered questions.  
It was great seeing the interest, and people putting their names forward.

It was widely known the election was happening as it happens every four years. All one had to do was see the campaign signs which were EVERYWHERE! People need to take the responsibility to educate themselves about the candidates and the issues and then go to vote at the polling stations that are advertised well im advance of Election Day. Oh right…easier to just whine and complain from the cheap seats. Yeesh people…..grow up!!!!

I don’t know what more people want. There have been posters, signs, and articles galore for the past 6 weeks. People should take some accountability and ownership in educating themselves instead of expecting to be spoon-fed information.