Close to twice as many voters cast ballots in advance polling here in our riding compared to the last federal election.
Preliminary estimates show that 8,322 voters cast their ballots in the electoral district of Skeena-Bulkley Valley during the four days of advance voting October 9-12, according to numbers released today, Oct. 14 by Elections Canada..
In advance voting in the last election in 2011, a total of 4,553 voters cast ballots in Skeena-Bulkley Valley.
That was a total of 13 per cent of those who did vote, which was 35,237 people in the 2011 election.
The preliminary figures are based on numbers reported by returning officers and are not final until all votes have been counted on election day and results validated by returning officers, said Elections Canada.
In B.C., a preliminary number of 507,920 people are estimated to have turned out for this federal election's advance voting compared to 259,278 in the last federal election's final figures.
In all, 3,633,422 Canadians are estimated to have voted in advance polls.
When introduced in 1920, voting at advance polls was limited to certain groups of voters whose work required them to be away from their electoral districts of election day.
Today it is one of several voting methods used by any elector who wishes to vote before election day.