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39% of Torontonians not registered to vote

by Tim Groves

Map of % of population registered by ward
Map of % of population registered by ward
39% of Torontonian not registered to vote
39% of Torontonian not registered to vote
Number of registered and unregistered by ward
Number of registered and unregistered by ward
% of population registered to vote by ward
% of population registered to vote by ward
Stats for every ward
Stats for every ward

Many Toronto residents are not eligible to vote and many who are, have not yet been registered. Only 61% of Torontonians are registered and in one ward less than 50% of the population are registered voters.

The number of registered voters is 1,526,518, however the population of Toronto is over 2.5 million people. In the latest census (2006) the population was 2,503,281 and an election related press release put out by the city, it is stated that Toronto is home to "about 2.6 million people".

Many Torontonians are not able to vote because of the requirement that you must be a Canadian citizen. In the Mayoral race, Smitherman and Pantalone have supported the idea of extending the franchise to non-citizens, and Ford has said he is open to discussing the idea.

"if we allowed the 200,000 permanent residents who are over 18 to vote, then it would give meaning to the city's motto of diversity our strength" Pantalone told the Toronto Media Co-op."If your contributing to the society, you should be able to have a voice in this society." He added that  the current system is  "taxation with out representation". 

To be eligible to vote you must also be over 18 years of age, excluding a large portion of the population from voting.

Not all registered voters live in the city. Anyone who owns property in the city, or who is married to someone who does is eligible to vote.

In some wards as much as 74% of the population are registered to vote. In Ward 1 and Ward 8, only 48% and 46% of the population, respectively, are registered voters. The average percent of the the population that is registered is 61%. A ward by ward breakdown of these statistics can be downloaded here.

Eligible electors who are not yet registered can still register on voting days, October 25th, if they have sufficient ID. For more information on voting visit http://www.toronto.ca/elections/voters/index.htm


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Tim Groves (Tim Groves)
Toronto
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Comments

Torontonians Eligible to Vote

It's an interesting statistic that 39% of the total population of Toronto are not registered to vote.  As you say, that includes those under 18 and those who are not Canadian citizens.  I don't know how you would be able to get this information, but a more significant statistic is how many eligible voters do not register to vote.

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