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Much has been written on the subject of “declined” votes in Ontario’s recent provincial election. Nearly 30,000 Ontarians took the time to go to their polling station to obtain their ballots, only to decline their ballots, handing them right back to the poll officials.

This figure represents a significant increase from the previous provincial election. The average number of declined ballots in Ontario’s 107 ridings increased from less than 0.1 per cent to 0.6 per cent between the provincial elections in 2011 and 2014. Dating back to 1975, the average number of declined ballots in Ontario elections was about 0.1 per cent. Of note, the 1990 election, in which Bob Rae’s NDP defeated David Peterson’s Liberals, saw about 0.5 per cent of ballots declined.

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So what could be behind this significant jump in the 2014 election? Many in the media have attributed this increase in declined ballots to a social media campaign run by a former PC party advisor, Paul Synnott. His “decline your vote” campaign encouraged voters to send a message of dissatisfaction to political elites by declining ballots. In turn, most commentators have interpreted the increase in the number of declined ballots as an expression of widespread discontent with provincial politicians and political parties in general.