Most ridings across British Columbia saw a significant increase in the number of voters turning out at advance polls.
Over four days of advance voting, preliminary numbers show that 804,116 British Columbians cast their ballot, up from 710,107 in 2019 – a 13.3 per cent increase. Nationwide, 5.8 million Canadians cast their ballot, a 18.5 per cent increase from the 2019 election.
In the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding, advanced voter turnout increased 44 per cent from 2019. It was the second-highest number of votes cast out of the 42 riding in the province. Some noted on social media that the wait time to vote was up to 30 minutes.
Particularly notable increases were seen in North Okanagan–Shuswap where advance turnout was up 42.5 per cent, Kootenay–Columbia where it was up 37.6 per cent, Cariboo–Prince George where it was up 36.9 per cent, Langley–Aldergrove where it was up 28.2 per cent and North Island–Powell River, where advance poll turnout was up 26.7 per cent.
However, advance turnout was lower in some ridings including Surrey-Newton where it dropped 21.2 per cent and South Okanagan–West Kootenay where it fell by 50.4 per cent.
Canadians are now past the time where they can request mail-in ballots but there is still time to send them in or drop it off at the Elections Canada office in your riding. All other Canadians head to the polls on Sept. 20.
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