Blake Ellis/The Independent

A new survey of Sarnia-Lambton voters shows they’re worried about the growing political divide in municipal politics and that disinformation is a barrier to casting a ballot.

With the municipal and school board elections set for October, a local group wanted to figure out the barriers to voting and increase voter participation with Sarnia-Lambton.

Healthy Democracy is trying to tackle the big question of how to strengthen democracy by increasing voter engagement and fostering respectful dialogue.

Healthy Democracy Member Katie Garrett presented some local statistics to the group including voter turnout, comparing data from the 2018 municipal election to the 2022 municipal election.

During that time, Sarnia’s voter turnout has dropped from 47.43 percent to 40.41 percent, St. Clair Township’s turnout has dropped from 47.97 percent to 39.34 percent, Lambton Shores has dropped from 45.72 percent to 39.42 percent, Petrolia has fell from 53.46 percent to 44.97 percent, Brooke-Alvinston has dropped from 59.81 percent to 53.14 percent and Point Edward has dropped from 53.31 percent to 42.87 percent.

Only two municipalities saw their voter turnout increase in those two elections with Plympton-Wyoming rising slightly from 42.25 percent to 42.71 percent and Warwick Township rising from 46.76 percent to 51.77 percent.

Those rates are still far higher than the average across the province which pegs voter turn out at 33 per cent on average.

Healthy Democracy surveyed what motivates people to vote. The online survey garnered 291 responses.

Among some of the findings were 97.8 percent of respondents said a healthy democracy in their community matters to them, 92.4 percent voted in the last election and 92.8 percent believe they will likely vote in the 2026 election. The number of people who said their vote mattered was much lower at just 75.6 percent.

Just under 60 per cent of respondents said a sense of civic duty is what motivated them to vote, while 15.1 percent indicated it was a specific candidate and 13.4 per cent said a specific issue compelled them to vote.

Some of the barriers that were identified in the survey were misinformation and disinformation at 68.4 percent, lack of education or awareness about the election at 65.6 percent, feeling that voting won’t make a difference at 44.6 percent, transportation at 31.2 percent and accessibility at 28.4 percent.

About 65 percent of the people surveyed said voters need to be engaged earlier, there needs to be more community outreach, polling options and all-candidates meetings have to be accessible.

Garrett says the survey also showed people are concerned their communities are growing further apart along political and social lines and the spread of false and misleading information is seen as a threat to informed decision making.

The survey shows people believe finding respectful political dialogue is becoming harder to find.

Helen Cole, a local advocate for increased democracy said she was first disappointed with only receiving 291 surveys, but when Vancouver did a similar survey, it only received 600 responses.

In a discussion about what efforts can be used to increasing voter participation, many felt that education was key.

Healthy Democracy Member Bob Sutton suggested a group form a small committee that can undertake fact checking during the election campaign to combat misinformation.

Those participating in the forum are also encouraged to join Healthy Democracy, as the group would be more effective with more members to share the work.