Okay so it’s not like anyone doubted the outcome but take a look at the turnout.
Out of 10,189 eligible voters, only 33% of them showed up to vote.
The newly elected member of the House of Assembly got the approval of a mere 27% of the electorate in the district.
Forget the tiny opposition party votes. They were never expected to do anything anyway.
But look at the Tory numbers and think about it:
A party that is supposedly worshipped by the entire province – except for a couple of skeets and ne’er do wells – could only motivate 27% of voters in a riding to cast their ballot.
That’s it.
2,737 out of 10,189.
That’s about half (55%) of the vote Beth Marshall pulled in 2007. And even that was with a smaller number of eligible voters and in one of the historically worst turn-outs (60%) for a post-Confederation general election.
This one was even worse than that and in a situation where there was virtually no opposition campaign and the Tories could pile on the cash and the bodies as they always do for these shows.
Of course, none of that will be discussed during the inevitable – and entirely routine – post-game show on Wednesday.
But while the rest of the world just drones on, take a minute and just think about everything that’s happened since last September. Then add this rather dismal performance.
-srbp-