While not historically low, the 2022 election holds the record there, the voter turnout totals show less than half of Ontario's eligible voters cast a ballot.
Elections Ontario reports this morning the unofficial provincial total is a 45.4 per cent voter turnout rate, or about 5 million of the almost 11.1 million people eligible to vote in Ontario weighed in for the 2025 provincial general election.
The record for lowest voter turnout in Ontario history was the last provincial election in 2022 with just 43 per cent of eligible voters exercising their right to elect a government.
The voter turnout rate for provincial elections since 1980 has been between 51 and 64 per cent, with the exception of 2011 when 48 per cent of eligible voters went to the polls.
The highest participation numbers on record happened in 1919 when 86 per cent of the province's 1.4 million eligible voters marked a ballot.
In Simcoe-Grey for the 2025 election, the voter turnout rate was about even with the province. There were 128, 213 eligible voters and 44.53 per cent cast ballots (about 57,000 people).
The results of the local vote put PC candidate Brian Saunderson on top with 30,572 votes, followed by Liberal candidate Ted Crysler with 18,549 votes, NDP candidate Benten Tinkler with 3,264 votes, Green candidate Allan Kuhn with 3,154 votes and New Blue Party candidate David Ghobrial with 1,554 votes.
In the 2012 provincial election, Simcoe-Grey’s voter turnout rate was 43.3 per cent of 121,996 eligible voters, and in the 2018 and 2014 election turnout was 57 and 52 per cent respectively.
Dating back to 1987, the Simcoe-Grey riding (formerly Simcoe-West) has seen voter turnout rates in the 60s, with a dip to 48 per cent in 2011.
The Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound riding again this year saw a higher turnout than the overall provincial rate with 50.3 per cent of the 90,795 eligible voters casting a ballot.
PC candidate Paul Vickers won in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound with 20,158 votes, followed by Liberal candidate Selwyn Hicks with 13,445 votes and the Green Party moved up to the third spot with 5,693 votes.
In the 2022 provincial election 46 per cent of 89,698 eligible voters in the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound riding cast a ballot, which was down from 58 per cent in the 2018 election and 54 per cent in the 2014 election.
Elsewhere in Simcoe County, the voter turnout rates per riding were as follows:
- Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte: 45.57 per cent of 88,085 eligible voters.
- Barrie-Innisfil: 41.83 per cent of 98,572 eligible voters.
- Simcoe-North: 46.22 per cent of 104,695 eligible voters
All voter turnout rates and vote counts are from Elections Ontario and are not yet official.