Voting ends tonight at 8:00 p.m., and BrantVotes will be live with a polls-close show at 8:00 p.m. and a results show at 9:00 p.m. (results come out once every Voter Assistance Location is cleared). While we wait, let’s look back at the last time the County of Brant did this — the 2022 election — and have a little fun with it.
2022 in brief
In 2022, David Bailey won the mayor’s race in a landslide, taking 72.41% of the vote. David Swanson — back on the ballot for mayor again this year — finished second with 17.86%.
A few familiar names won council seats in 2022 and are running again tonight: John MacAlpine and Jennifer Kyle in Ward 1 (Kyle is running for mayor this time), Steve Howes in Ward 2, John Peirce and John Bell in Ward 3, and Christine Garneau — now Christine Garneau Bisaillon, and also running for mayor this year — who topped the Ward 5 poll in 2022. Ella Haley and Mike Gatopoulos also ran in Ward 5 in 2022 and are back on the ballot there tonight.
Overall turnout in 2022 finished at 26.54%, with 8,237 of 31,038 eligible voters casting a ballot.
The fun ranking: which ward voted most in 2022?
Using the County’s election-night summary report, here’s how the wards stacked up on turnout:
1. Ward 2 — 30.61% (1,805 of 5,896 electors) — the turnout champions
2. Ward 1 — 30.09% (1,956 of 6,500 electors) — a close second
3. Ward 5 — 29.93% (1,956 of 6,536 electors) — just behind
4. Ward 3 — 28.50% (1,672 of 5,866 electors)
5. Ward 4 — no contest — both council seats were acclaimed in 2022, so Ward 4 didn’t even have to vote
So Ward 2, take a bow. Ward 3, you’ve got some catching up to do tonight.
One honest footnote: those ward figures come from the County’s unofficial election-night report (October 24, 2022, 8:52 p.m., with 19 of 26 tabulators reporting), so they’re a snapshot from election night rather than the final certified numbers. The overall 26.54% figure is the final one.
The bar for tonight is already beaten
Here’s the best part: as of 2:52 p.m. today, turnout in this election has already reached 26.6% — past the entire 2022 turnout, with hours of voting still to go. Whatever tonight’s final number is, more of Brant is voting this time than last time.
So the only question left: which ward takes the turnout crown in 2026? We’ll find out tonight.
Watch the BrantVotes election night shows: polls close at 8:00 p.m., results show at 9:00 p.m. Meet your candidates at brantvotes.ca — and if you haven’t voted yet, there’s still time.
