Voter apathy has been a growing problem in Calgary.
In the most recent federal election turnout in Calgary ridings averaged 53 percent; in the last provincial election turnout was 41 percent; in the 2006 municipal election turnout was only 33 percent.
The steady decline in the number of people who vote in elections isn't unique to Calgary though.
"This is a common pattern right across the western world and this has been occurring for about 25 years now where we've seen a downward trend," says Duane Bratt a political scientist at Mount Royal University.
CTV Calgary wanted to see how our city stacked up against other cities of roughly the same size.
In Tucson, Arizona they also had a 33 percent voter turnout in their last municipal election; in Memphis Tennessee, only 25 percent of eligible voters case ballots in their municipal election; in Ottawa, the turnout was 54 percent.
The declining numbers have prompted numerous efforts to increase voter participation.
Some American cities have opted to have registration drives outside rock concerts.
In Australia, voting has been compulsory for more than 80 years. Not voting means a fine of up to $50. That country's voter turnout averages 95 percent.
But Australian David Rowe, who moved to Calgary two years ago, says mandatory voting solves one problem but leads to another – dummy voting. "You can go in and not write anything on the paper. No one sort of checks to make sure you actually voted for someone," says Rowe.
Bratt believes the solution to voter apathy will be found online. "I think there's going to come a point where we are going to go to Internet voting. It will happen, I think, in the next decade…and you will see a higher voter turnout."
In 2004, Calgary hit an all time turnout low when only 20 percent if eligible voters cast ballots in the civic election.
