Gen-Z voter turnout continues to decline in recent years

Young Canadians are not voting in great numbers.

Youth voting rates have been declining since the start of the 1990s. They picked up again in 2011 until about 2018, when they peaked and started back on the downward trend.

In the recent municipal election in Ontario, some people did not know where they were supposed to vote.

“I guess there were things telling me, ‘It’s time to vote,’ I just didn’t see them,” said Nolan Hacker an 18-year-old from Windsor.

Others in the 18-24 age bracket do not think they are actively engaged in the community enough to vote.

“I haven’t been involved in the community since going to school,” said Justin Lemoyne, a 20-year-old tourism-travel St. Clair College student.

Prior to living in Windsor, he lived in Ottawa, and he said even when he lived there, he did not vote.

According to research about generational replacement published by the Parliament of Canada, voters born before 1959 who felt it was their duty to vote in elections, were being replaced by people born from 1960 and onward, who were less likely to vote.

Ben Carroll, a 19-year-old St. Clair College student, still thinks it is important to vote.

“I did vote where I was,” said Carroll. “I voted because I think it is important.”

Carroll moved to Windsor from Cambridge a couple of months ago and said he did not know where to go to vote.

The next opportunity for young Canadians to vote will be in the 2025 federal election.