Skip to content

Election 2015: Advance voting numbers up dramatically

Thousands more cast early ballots between Oct. 9 and 12. Dozens of schools have also organized student votes this week.
93427abbotsfordstudentvoting
Chief Dan George student Harman submits her ballot to Grade 8 scrutineer Tessa Hansen.

Thousands more voters decided to cast early ballots in the Abbotsford riding in this year’s federal election.

Election day is Oct. 19, but a total of 9,724 ballots were cast over four days of advance polling between Oct. 9 and 12 in Abbotsford. That number is up dramatically from 2011, when 5,713 advance votes were cast.

The 70 per cent increase in advance voting is also in line with the uptick in voting across Canada. A total of 3.6 million advance votes were cast across the country, an increase of 71 per cent.

The increased number of advance ballots cast in the Abbotsford riding comes despite the electoral district having shrunk since 2011. The riding now encompasses most of the city south of Maclure and Bateman roads.

Areas north of those roads are now part of the newly created Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding. A total of 9,007 voters in that electoral district cast ballots.

Adults weren’t the only ones casting ballots in advance of the main election day. Over the past week, dozens of local schools have conducted their own votes. Results will be announced Monday evening concurrently with the actual election. They will also be searchable, by school, at studentvote.ca.