Voter turnout in Barrie municipal elections

How many people actually vote in Barrie's municipal elections. Never most of them: the highest figure on record here is about 42%, in 2010, and no year since 2014 has passed 32%.

General elections

Barrie Ontario average

Values are percentages of eligible voters.

No Barrie figure was published for 2003, 2006. Those years stay as gaps; a missing figure is never drawn as zero. The Ontario-wide average is from AMO figures as reported on Wikipedia's Ontario municipal elections pages, retrieved August 3, 2026, and is offered as context rather than City data. By-elections are left off this axis because their turnout is not comparable with a general election.

Sources: 2022 from the City Clerk's certificate, which states turnout directly.

2014 and 2018 from the City's archived results pages; those certificates carry no turnout at all. 2010 from the Clerk's figures as the Barrie Advance reported them: 84,145 eligible voters and "around 35,400" ballots cast, so about 42%. The City published no turnout figure for 2003 or 2006; see the newspaper figures below.

Each election's tooltip gives its eligible voters and ballots cast.

Only the 2022 ballot count is stated on a certificate; the others are this site's calculation from City figures, and each tooltip says which. The 2003 and 2006 certificates carry no turnout, electorate or ballot figures, so the mayoral-race total, a floor, is all the City's records give for those years.

What the newspapers reported. 2010, the figures charted above: on election day the Barrie Advance quoted the Clerk: "15,600 votes were cast in advance polls, of 84,145 eligible voters". That week the Advance reported "around 35,400 people voted, and 19,700 showed up on Monday" (voting day), and the Barrie Examiner "more than 35,000", both "about 40%" on election night. The 35,020 votes in the mayoral race on the City's certificate fit those counts. For the years below these are not City figures. 2006: the Advance reported that "Just 30.4 per cent of voters cast a ballot for mayor", with an average turnout of "about 30 per cent", ranging from 40.9% in Ward 10 to 20.6% in Ward 6; it gave no electorate or ballot count. 2003: only the Examiner's later "approximately 30%".

Sources: 15,600 vote in advance polls, Barrie Advance (simcoe.com), dated October 25, 2010.

Original document. Archived copy. Election day, before polls closed: "Barrie clerk Dawn McAlpine said 15,600 votes were cast in advance polls, of 84,145 eligible voters." The Clerk's electorate figure. Poll results hand delivered, Barrie Advance (Janis Ramsay), dated October 28, 2010. Original document. Archived copy. "In total, around 35,400 people voted, and 19,700 showed up on Monday. It represents 40 per cent of voters". Rounded, unofficial; the totals are not attributed to the Clerk. Emotions, turnouts run high, The Barrie Examiner (Marg. Bruineman). Original document. Archived copy. Election-week report, published on or before October 27, 2010 (the archived copy has no dateline): "More than 35,000 people of an eligible 84,145 voted, representing about 40%", against "the 30% turnout in each of Barrie's last two elections". The reporter's figures, not attributed to the Clerk. Election numbers pathetic in Barrie, Barrie Advance (John Devine), dated November 29, 2006. Original document. Archived copy. Column, 16 days after the vote: turnout "about 30 per cent"; "Turnout ranged from a high of 40.9 per cent in Ward 10 to a low of 20.6 per cent in Ward 6. Just 30.4 per cent of voters cast a ballot for mayor." Not attributed to the Clerk; no electorate or ballot count. Voting early a good idea: official, The Barrie Examiner (Bob Bruton), dated October 20, 2014. Original document. Archived copy. "In 2010, voter turnout in Barrie it was just a tick above 40% — with approximately 35,000 of 84,145 eligible voters casting ballots. In both the 2006 and 2003 city elections, turnout was approximately 30%." The reporter's figures, not attributed to the Clerk. All retrieved October 8, 2026.

By-elections

A by-election fills a single seat mid-term. Turnout is far lower, and these figures should never be read on the same line as a general election.

Turnout, Barrie council by-elections
By-election	Seat	Eligible voters	Turnout
2020	Ward 3	not published	23.80%
2016	Ward 7	9,180	17.50%
2012	Ward 8	not published	not published

Source: City of Barrie archived election pages.

The 2012 Ward 8 by-election has no published final turnout. On the last voting day the Clerk told the Barrie Advance that "only 11.6 per cent of eligible voters have cast their ballot" so far, and that "Traditionally by-elections almost all have had under 20 per cent turnout", against "normal turnout about 42 per cent". The same story reported that in 2010 "42 per cent of Ward 8 voters cast a ballot".

Source: Ward 8 by-election today, Barrie Advance (Laurie Watt), dated December 3, 2012.

Original document. Archived copy. Election-day story on the 2012 Ward 8 by-election. The Clerk: "only 11.6 per cent of eligible voters have cast their ballot" (in the two days of advance voting, before voting day opened); "Turnout for by-elections rings in around 20 per cent, compared with normal turnout about 42 per cent"; "Traditionally by-elections almost all have had under 20 per cent turnout". The reporter: "In 2010, 42 per cent of Ward 8 voters cast a ballot." No final turnout. Retrieved October 8, 2026.

Turnout by ward

Ward-level turnout exists for two general elections. The only wards without a figure are the two whose council seats were acclaimed — Ward 6 in 2014 and Ward 9 in 2018. No vote was held for those seats, so the City published no turnout: the chart marks them acclaimed rather than drawing a zero that never happened.

2014 2018

Per cent of eligible electors, per ward, from the City's archived results pages.

Ward boundaries were identical in these two elections, which is what makes the comparison fair; the 2026 boundaries are different and will not be comparable with either.

Source: City of Barrie archived results pages for 2014 and 2018.

No City ward-level turnout has been located for 2006, 2010 or 2022.

Ward figures the newspapers reported. Not City figures, and on the ward boundaries of their day. 2006: the Barrie Advance reported that turnout "ranged from a high of 40.9 per cent in Ward 10 to a low of 20.6 per cent in Ward 6". 2010: the Advance later reported that "42 per cent of Ward 8 voters cast a ballot". No other ward figure for those years has been found.

Sources: Election numbers pathetic in Barrie, Barrie Advance (John Devine), dated November 29, 2006.

Original document. Archived copy. Column, 16 days after the vote: turnout "about 30 per cent"; "Turnout ranged from a high of 40.9 per cent in Ward 10 to a low of 20.6 per cent in Ward 6. Just 30.4 per cent of voters cast a ballot for mayor." Not attributed to the Clerk; no electorate or ballot count. Ward 8 by-election today, Barrie Advance (Laurie Watt), dated December 3, 2012. Original document. Archived copy. Election-day story on the 2012 Ward 8 by-election. The Clerk: "only 11.6 per cent of eligible voters have cast their ballot" (in the two days of advance voting, before voting day opened); "Turnout for by-elections rings in around 20 per cent, compared with normal turnout about 42 per cent"; "Traditionally by-elections almost all have had under 20 per cent turnout". The reporter: "In 2010, 42 per cent of Ward 8 voters cast a ballot." No final turnout. All retrieved October 8, 2026.

Where a ward reads acclaimed (Ward 6 in 2014, Ward 9 in 2018), the council seat was won without a contest and the City published no ward turnout figure for it. People in those wards still voted for mayor and school board, so this is not a claim that nobody voted there. Those are the only two cells missing in either year. Every acclaimed seat on record.

Reading across rows takes care too. Ward boundaries were redrawn for 2026 and have moved before, so a ward number does not describe the same territory in every year. What changed.

Common questions

What is voter turnout in Barrie municipal elections?

Never most eligible voters in any year on record: the highest is about 42%, in 2010, and no year since 2014 has passed 32%. The table on this page lists citywide turnout for every general election with a published figure, from the City Clerk's certificates and the City's archived results pages, and 2010 from the Clerk's figures as the Barrie Advance reported them: about 42%, 35,400 of 84,145 eligible voters. The City published none for 2003 or 2006. Local papers reported 30.4% voting for mayor in 2006, and approximately 30% in 2003.

What was voter turnout in the 2022 Barrie election?

30.45%, with 31,604 ballots cast, as stated on the City Clerk's certificate — the one ballot count on this page attested on a certificate rather than calculated. See the 2022 results.

Is turnout available by ward?

For two general elections: 2014 and 2018, from the City's archived results pages. The only wards without a figure are the two whose council seats were acclaimed — Ward 6 in 2014 and Ward 9 in 2018 — where no vote was held for the seat and the City published no turnout. No City ward-level turnout has been located for 2006, 2010 or 2022; local papers reported a few ward figures for 2006 and 2010, quoted on this page.