Montreal's voter turnout was only 37% this municipal election. What's behind the decline?

The Canada Post strike messed with voter card distribution during the municipal election campaign, but it appears Élections Montréal has other voting obstacles to think about as well.

With a voter turnout of 37.09 per cent with 99.8 per cent of polls reporting, this was the third lowest participation rate of the 15 Montreal municipal elections held since 1970, the year the city introduced universal suffrage.

That said, voter turnout has surpassed 50 per cent in only four elections since 1970, peaking at 53.8 per cent in 1978.

In its anticipated post-mortem on the 2025 vote, Élections Montréal, the office responsible for organizing the city’s elections and ensuring their integrity, will surely talk about the mail strike, which delayed the distribution of voter reminder cards to household