Voter turnout was down in both the Parksville and Qualicum Beach municipal elections this year, preliminary results show.
The drop was most noticeable in Parksville, where 34 per cent of eligible voters got out to the polls, compared to 43.3 per cent in 2018.
There were 4,019 ballots cast in Parksville in 2022, according to the city, out of an estimated 11,818 eligible voters. That compares with 4,393 ballots in 2018, when the city was home to 10,144 eligible voters.
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Participation was also down in Qualicum Beach, where turnout was 52.7 per cent, according to the town. 2018 saw 58.9 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, according to Civic Info BC.
There were 4,453 ballots cast in Qualicum Beach in 2022, out of 8,451 eligible voters, according to the town. In 2018, 4,600 out of 7,809 of those eligible got out to vote, according to Civic Info BC.
These are preliminary numbers and are subject to determination of official election results by the municipalities’ chief election officers.
— NEWS Staff