More than 4.7 million Canadians voted in the advance polls held across the country from Oct. 11 to 14, Elections Canada said Tuesday.
The total of votes cast during this advance poll period was 29 per cent higher than in the 2015 federal election, when 3,657,415 electors cast their ballots.
There were more advance polling locations on offer this time. In 2015, there were 4,946 polling stations, compared with the 6,135 this year. And for the first time, the polling stations were opened for 12 hours from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The first day of advance polls on Friday saw 1.2 million voters cast a ballot, 977,361 electors voted on Saturday, 915,000 on Sunday and 1.6 million voted on Thanksgiving Monday for a total of 4,733,030 votes cast in advance polls.
“More and more, Canadians are taking advantage of early voting opportunities to cast their ballots,” said Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault.
“Having extended voting hours at advance polls gave Canadians more flexibility to use this option.”
This year’s total does not include ballots cast at on-campus polling stations or those cast outside the advance poll period at local Elections Canada returning offices.
An estimated 111,300 electors voted at stations on college and university campuses last week versus the 70,000 who did so in 2015.
With files from CBC News
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