Ontario election: Voter turnout higher than expected in 2025, early data shows

According to early data from Elections Ontario, approximately 45 per cent of eligible Ontarians participated in the 2025 provincial election, representing a one percentage point increase from the previous election.

As of Friday morning, Elections Ontario reported that slightly over 5 million out of just over 11 million eligible voters cast their ballots in Thursday’s election, accounting for about 45.4 per cent of eligible voters.

With 99.93 per cent of the polls reporting (8,073 polling stations out of 8,079) as of midnight on Friday, Doug Ford secured a third majority government. The Progressive Conservative party won 80 seats, the NDP won 27 seats, the Liberals won 14 seats to regain official party status, the Greens won two seats, and one seat went to an Independent.

The previous provincial election in 2022 had the lowest voter turnout in history, with 44 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots. Around 4.7 million out of 10.7 million eligible voters participated in that election held on June 2, 2022.

The snap winter election in 2025 showed only a one percentage point increase in voter turnout compared to 2022, with just under half a million more voters. Critics had anticipated that the unusual timing of the election would discourage voter participation.

In contrast, the 2018 provincial election witnessed a 57 per cent voter turnout, the highest in over a decade at the time. Voter turnout in other recent provincial elections ranged from 48 per cent to 66 per cent.

During the advance voting period from February 20 to 22, only 678,789 Ontarians (6.14 per cent) cast their ballots. In comparison, 1,066,545 voters (9.92 per cent) participated in 10 days of advance voting in 2022, and 698,609 voters (6.8 per cent) voted over five days in 2018.

Given the low voter turnout in 2022, voter turnout figures were a significant focus in the 2025 election. The last early election in Canada, held in Nova Scotia last fall, also experienced a record low turnout.

Elections Ontario is yet to officially certify the votes, but preliminary data was accessible on Friday.

— With files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea

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