Here’s a municipal math question for you: If 36 per cent of voters turn out to elect seven candidates for a four-year term, how many make their way to the polls when the election is for just one seat and the term is for not much longer than a year?
It’s likely a trick question because a byelection to fill a vacancy on Okotoks council probably won’t take place. You see, civic politicians have asked the minister of municipal affairs to allow the seat vacated by Cheryl Actemichuk last month to remain vacant until the next general election, which is scheduled for the fall of 2025.
There are some who will find this request an affront to democracy, feeling that no seat should ever go unfilled and that constituents can’t possibly be properly served by a six-member council for what would be roughly the last one-third of the current term.
I guess I should mention that I’m not one of those people.
As much as it makes democratic sense to fill an empty seat, there are a number of pragmatic reasons why a byelection, at least in this instance, isn’t a great idea, not the least of which is that almost no one would show up to vote.
Byelections have historically had pitiful voter turnout, much less than a general municipal election, which is saying something given how low that bar is set. Okotoks had a 36 per cent turnout in 2021 and just 29 per cent in 2017, both times when a mayor and six councillors were elected. How many voters would turn up when just one seat is up for grabs? The 14 per cent that went to the polls in a council byelection in Wetaskiwin last summer might well be a number to shoot for.
Beyond the notion that few will take part, there’s also the cost of holding a vote, pegged at $40,000, which is not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but money that would be better spent pretty much anywhere else.
What’s more, no one is going unrepresented because Okotoks is temporarily down to a six-member council as there's no ward system in effect, so no area is without a councillor. It’s not like a provincial or federal seat where there’s only one representative for the riding; we’ve still got six council members tending to civic business, so one more person at the table is unlikely to change the outcome of many votes.
On that note, Actemichuk was granted a leave of absence last year, which saw council run one body short for months, yet I can’t recall an instance where governance was compromised, nor any public outcry over the reduced head count.
Given the time it takes to organize a byelection and then get the winner up to speed in their new role, it’s accepted practice not to hold one when there’s less than 18 months left in a term. Actemichuk tendered her resignation a month before that magic mark, which means it’s necessary to bend the rules in the name of common sense.
