Don't renters also have votes? If so then it's a matter of ratio and willingness to mobilize/fund efforts.

Renters vote but tend to be under-represented on City Councils and such because they are a) younger, b) have less money, c) move more often than people with homes. Renters don't vote as regularly as homeowners.

d) If a place has renters that don't have their own mailbox, it's possible that only the owner will get voter registration mail.

Sincere question: is this a bug or a feature?

feature imo. it doesn't seem inherently wrong that the long term residents should have more say than people who may just be passing through. that said, the degree of difference could still be very inappropriate.

Renters are the minority. 70% of households own their home in Canada.

Using the San Francisco example from the article, renters are 62.5% of all households [1].

[1] http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty....

Not direct votes. The renters can vote for representatives, but city councils are overwhelmingly made up of homeowners. (and a disturbingly high proportion of property developers)