This year, Canadians already knew the federal election advance polling numbers were high – and now they know where all these ballots were cast.
Elections Canada has released estimates for each riding.
In the Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River riding, about 4,179 voters have already cast their ballots.
That’s 150 per cent more than last election’s advance polls, where numbers for that riding came in at about 1,686.
In part, this increase can be attributed to an Elections Canada pilot project. One of its four special polling stations, which were open Oct. 5 to 8, was open in Ile a la Crosse’s Friendship Centre. People could register and vote at that time.
Few other ridings have seen such a dramatic change – there are several ridings in Quebec that are comparable. It is worth noting that boundaries for electoral districts have changed from the 2011 election.
Another huge number is Fort McMurray and Cold Lake’s riding – its numbers have tripled compared to 2011.
About 95,000 people have already cast their ballot in Saskatchewan. The riding with the most advance voters is Saskatoon West – about 10, 045 of them. Saskatoon’s two other ridings have numbers about 9,000.
Not much surprise, population-wise, that Ontario and Quebec numbers are the highest. About 940,000 people were at the advance polls in Quebec, and 1.3 million in Ontario.
Elections Canada had previously released preliminary advance polling numbers saying this election has seen the busiest days of advance voting in Canada’s history. More than 3.6 million electors have voted in advance, which is a 71 per cent increase from the 2011 election.
Elections Canada says part of that increase is due to an extra day of advance voting day offered last Sunday. There were four days total for people to advance vote this year.
For a full list of Canada’s advance polling estimates this year, click here.