•According to the preliminary figures, 2,056,001 electors voted at the advance polls in this federal general election. This is a 34.5% increase from the 1,528,780 electors who voted in advance in the 40th general election in 2008.
•Over 676,000 Canadians voted on Friday and over 823,000 on Monday, representing the two (2) busiest days of advance voting ever.
"There was a higher than expected turnout this past weekend at the advance polls," said Marc Mayrand. "We thank voters for their patience and field staff for their responsiveness."
Here is a rundown, province by province:
Hard to say what this turnout means. Premature to say overall turnout will be up considerably, but a very GOOD sign indeed. I note all the experts tell us lower turnout is Harper's friend, so infer from that what you will. I'm just happy that people are voting, no matter your persuasion, it's a net positive for our democracy.
15 comments:
except in Nunavut, half as many voted
I'm looking at the riding by riding turnout, but without a basis for comparison, hard to say what it means. I do see that some of the most hotly contested races are showing some of the highest turnout numbers (Simcoe-Grey, SGI, Kingston&Islands, Barrie) but also some safe con seats are in the top 10 (Nepean-Carleton, Halton) which leads me to wonder if this might be a product of a highly refined GOTV operation on the part of the Conservatives.
Do we have numbers from last time to compare?
Riding by riding, not sure. I honestly see no trend that leans to Con GOTV, don't forget all the youth voting as well. Way to many factors to zero in on one culprit.
Means everybody made up their mind already and the polls won't move much?
Separate issue, but not sure where the Angus Reid polling numbers are coming from on twitter, their website has no new poll #'s
bcl
Could mean the party with or without momentum that weekend got a bounce overall?
It's probably all the partisans voting early. If you support a party, you're not going to waver.
I was under the impression that the Con's were encouraging people to vote in the advance polls so that their vote would not be swayed by reality during the last week(s) of the campaign.
It would be wonderful to see a great turnout on May 2nd, regardless of the results...it would mean a return to people's respect for the democratic system and their power.
With the advance polls being on Good Friday/Easter weekend they got a lot more publicity about them (complaints are still publicity) than usual and frankly being on a holiday when everything else was closed is probably the reason, along with the added publicity, for the larger turnout.
There's a reason retailers braved those fines to open Sunday before it was legal. They got the customers.
Wonder when Angus Reid's next poll will be out? I answered one on line last night.
Not sure, because Easter is a on the move, with family day, people aren't sitting around going "hey let's vote". A lot aren't even in their riding. We also had evidence of early student polls being well up, so I'm sensing a trend more than an excuse. 2008 was terrible turnout, so an uptick isn't extraordinary.
Another thing for the poo poo crowd, debate audience was up 26% over 2008, another concrete sign of increased participation.
I know people who do sales on these days when everyone is supposed to be busy with families etc., they do great. (Thanksgiving, Good Friday and Easter Sunday) The majority of people are at home with nothing to do. I've worked these sales and they are busy. Really, don't believe the whole "with families" thing. It's the exception not the rule.
Cons are not exactly "encouraging people to vote".
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/522044--valeriote-accuses-burke-of-enabling-voter-suppression
Kirk
I don't know what world you live in, but everyone I know was having family over, or going to family, not sitting around. As a matter of fact, I recall all these people CRITICIZING the Libs for running their infomercial on Sunday because NOBDY watches television Easter, they are busy! I suspect that's exactly why we bought the large block, it was a CHEAP buy because people aren't sitting around doing nothing. Honestly, you can be negative about every single thing, that's your prerogative, but the kneejerk nature is sort of weakening any relevant points. It's like every single thing, gets old. Just sayin.
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