N.S. election: Less than half eligible voters cast ballots [Video]

HALIFAX –

The weak voter turnout in Nova Scotia‘s election is “shocking” but not a complete surprise, says a political scientist after almost 66,000 fewer voters cast ballots compared with the 2021 vote.

Unofficial data from Elections Nova Scotia indicates that 357,048 — or 45 per cent — of 788,427 eligible voters turned out to the polls for the general election that gave Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives their second consecutive majority. Election day was Tuesday.

That’s down 10 per cent from the 2021 provincial election when 422,712 Nova Scotians cast ballots.

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Alex Marland, a professor and political scientist at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., said in an interview Thursday that the voting numbers are disappointing, and he called for measures to bring citizens back to the polls.

“This is shocking and frustrating and disturbing given that the last election (in 2021) occurred when …