The runner-up in the Grand Forks mayoral race says he wouldn’t have done anything differently in his campaign, but he is disappointed with the voter turnout.
“You never know with these things,” Kirk Duff said. “I gave it my best shot and I have no regrets. I would have campaigned the same way that I always do with being honest and clean.”
He thanked those who voted for him and congratulated the newly-elected council.
Duff, who is a former mayor of Castlegar, received 576 votes, while incumbent Everett Baker was re-elected with 724. Turnout was 38 per cent, with 2,315 votes cast from 6,467 eligible voters, similar to 2022.
“It was a bit low and it’s unfortunate because people should take advantage of the opportunity to vote,” Duff said. “It’s always surprising when it’s a low turnout.”
He added that he didn’t know why the numbers weren’t higher, other than general apathy and people not thinking their ballot matters. He said it’s easier to get seniors out to the polls than younger people.
“If they wait till they’re almost a senior to realize that their vote counts, then it’s a sad thing. Young families should be out there voting more than they are since they’re the ones that are going to be around for a lot longer.”
On the campaign trail, Duff said he heard from people who wanted change. But in addition to Baker, all four incumbent councillors who stood for another term were re-elected.
Duff was elected mayor of Castlegar in a by-election in 2021 and had previously served many years on council. He did not seek re-election in 2022 as he and his wife retired to Grand Forks. He said he had no intentions of getting involved in politics again, but circumstances changed.
He said he will return to retirement, but that doesn’t mean disappearing from the community organizations he has been involved with. “The things that I’ve joined and helped out with are things I would normally do anyways,” he said. “Everyone should do something to give back to their community by joining different groups and helping them out.”
Duff is on the boards of the Grand Forks International baseball tournament and Grand Forks Art Gallery. He has also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and the Border Bruins hockey club.
He said it was fun meeting people on the campaign trail, who were “very gracious and very kind,” adding there are a “wide variety of thinkers” in the area.
