Wish I could be more rigorously scientific about this but there’s only so much I can divine from the numbers provided. 2008 voter turnout is reported by polling station. Luckily for me the polling stations were housed mostly in schools. Yay for schools! From this I can get a pretty good picture of how engaged each neighbourhood was in the last election. In 2008 nine of the 12 schools in the new school board district 4 served as polling stations and saw the following voting action:
- Saint Mary’s Elementary – less than 10%
- Cornwallis (now Central Halifax Junior High) – 15-22%
- LeMarchant-St.Thomas Elementary – 10-15%
- Gorsebrook Junior High – 16%
- Inglis Street Elementary – 10-12%
- Westmount Elementary – 22-26%
- Springvale Elementary – 24-34%
- Chebucto Heights Elementary – 9-12% with exception of one poll reporting 18%
- Cunard Junior High – 17-22%
Good for you, Springvale and Westmount communities. You equalled or bettered the voter turnout for municipal races generally. I’ll be doing what I can to generate an equal or increased level of interest among all the neighbourhoods of District 4.