The final numbers from the 2013 provincial election are in, and far fewer people voted in the North Coast than in the 2009 election.
This year, Elections BC tallied 8,140 votes in the riding, down from 8,890 four years ago. While the total number of registered voters is still being calculated, voter turnout is already down based based on numbers from April 23. At the time there were 14,956 voters registered on the North Coast leading to a current voter turnout of 54.4 per cent compared to a final voter turnout of 57.1 per cent last election.
The voter turnout has been dropping since the 2001 election, and is down more than 10 per cent from the 66 per cent seen in that election.
With the final numbers, NDP MLA-elect Jennifer Rice widened the gap reported on May 14 between her and Liberal candidate Judy Fraser. Rice received a total of 4,617 votes, 276 more than the preliminary count, good for 56.7 per cent of the popular vote. Fraser's vote count jumped by 152 when the absentee ballots were counted, leaving her with 33.1 per cent of the popular vote. Hondo Arendt's tally rose from 787 to 831, a difference of 44, leaving him with 10.2 per cent.
While voter turnout on the North Coast fell, across the province it rose by eight per cent from the record low of 51 per cent seen in 2009. In total 1.8 million people voted in the May 14 election. When the final ballots were totalled, the Liberals held 49 seats, the NDP held 34 seats, the Green Party held one seat and there was one independent MLA in the Legislature.