Heather Wright/The Independent

While many eyes were watching Sarnia’s mayoral race Monday, it appears the people of Point Edward were the most engaged citizens in the 2026 municipal election.

The messy construction on St. Clair Street in Point Edward drew heated questions at an all candidates meeting 20 days before the election. That issue drove 55 per cent of eligible voters to the polls to give Greg Grimes the mayor’s seat by only 16 votes. During the 2022 election, when the Point Edward mayor was acclaimed, 42.8 per cent of voters cast a ballot.

That’s the highest voter turn out of any Lambton County municipality.

Brooke-Alvinston, which had a three-way race for mayor, a stiff race for council positions and internet voting for the first time, had a massive voter turnout – 50.6 per cent of the eligible voters cast a ballot.

And while the race which saw Jamie Armstrong become mayor drew a lot of interest, voter turnout was higher in 2022, when 53.14 per cent of voters cast a ballot by mail in the race between Armstrong and David Ferguson.

Plympton-Wyoming’s rematch between incumbent Gary Atkinson and former councillor Tim Wilkins drew 48.2 per cent of the registered voters to the polls, more than the 42.71 per cent who voted in the three-way race between Atkinson, Wilkins and Muriel Wright in 2022.

Sarnia had a history-making election Monday, with Carrie McEachran defeating long-time mayor Mike Bradley by a wide margin, with the controversial Bill Dennis in third.

The race which made headlines, drew 48.08 per cent of eligible voters to cast their ballots – over 21,000 of them through internet voting. That’s far better than the 2022 election, when 40.41 per cent of voters re-elected Bradley for a tenth term.

There are many theories why voter turnout increases; easy access, like internet voting, a controversial issue which catches residents attention, a desire for change or a big race for the top job.

But there are also examples which defy those rules.

In Lambton Shores, for example, where Jeff Wilcox unseated incumbent Doug Cook, 37.07 per cent of the eligible voters cast a ballot. That was actually lower compared to 2022, when 39.42 per cent of Lambton Shores voters came out to elect Cook to his first and only term as mayor.

There were cases of municipalities where voter turnout was lower than the last election cycle.

In St. Clair, where Jeff Agar was returned as mayor, 36.48 per cent of the eligible voters cast a ballot. That’s compared with 39.34 per cent when Tracy Kingston, Agar and Chad Samko ran for the top political job.

And, often, when the mayor in the community is acclaimed, voter turnout dips.

In Oil Springs, voters who had not been to the polls since 2014, exercised their franchise this time around, despite the acclamation of Mayor Ian Veen. Stats show 42.76 per cent of eligible voters there cast a ballot Monday.

Joel Field was acclaimed in Petrolia, but with 12 people running for six council spots, the race drew 38.89 per cent of the voters. That’s down from 2022 when Richard Poore challenged Brad Loosley for the mayor’s chair drawing 44.97 per cent of the voters to the polls.

In Warwick, there was 37.7 per cent voter turnout for the councillors election. That compared with 51.77 per cent voter turn out when Todd Case defeated Jackie Rombouts in 2022.

Despite the lower turn out in areas where there was only an election for councillors, Lambton municipalities still either met or did better than the provincial average of 37 per cent voter turnout.

And they outpaced London which registered 31 per cent voter turnout and Windsor where only 32 per cent of eligible voters made the effort.