The precious little increase in voter turnout at last month's civic election was an "important first step toward reversing the downward trend."
David Weber - the city clerk director, who was Richmond's chief election officer - said in a report to city council this week that the way the city thinks about how elections can be administered has also changed.
For the first time in many municipal elections, the number of voters bothering to make their mark went up (23.74 per cent from 22.1 in 2008) instead of down.
Some of that increase has been put down a number of initiatives introduced by the city to combat the decline.
However, Weber believes the general downward spiral in the voter turnout for city hall elections is much more deep-rooted.
"The problem of low voter turnout is multi-faceted and has developed over a long period of time," Weber wrote.
"Society cannot expect to solve or reverse the problem overnight or by simply implementing several local new initiatives.
"Indeed, many of the factors which contribute to low voter turnout are well beyond the control or jurisdiction of election administrators or those working at a local level."
For the first time in its history, the city allowed people to vote at any polling station, as opposed to the one nearest their residence.
And polling stations were set up deliberately at high traffic areas, such as shopping malls and at the swimming pool in an attempt to encourage the casual voter.
Despite the slight increase, however, Weber said there is still much work to be done to analyze and evaluate the success of the initiatives and a more detailed report will be available soon.
