By rdnewsNOW staff

Advance Polls

Tens of thousands vote early in central Alberta

Oct 21, 2019 | 3:40 PM

Advance voter turnout in central Alberta for the 2019 federal election was strong.

According to Statistics Canada, a total of 21,062 of the 93,050 eligible voters in the Red Deer-Lacombe riding cast their ballot during advance polls held over the Thanksgiving Long Weekend. That’s nearly double the 11,677 advance ballots that were cast in the riding in 2015.

The numbers are similar in Red Deer-Mountain View where this year 22,175 of the 89,098 eligible voters cast their ballots early, compared to 11,558 four years ago.

During the 2015 federal election, a total of 61,838 people cast votes in Red Deer-Lacombe, while 62,347 did so in Red Deer-Mountain View.

Across the country, 4.7 million people cast their ballot in advance voting. This is a 29 per cent increase compared to 2015, which was a 10 per cent increase from the 2011 election.

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VIU Political Studies professor Dr. Alex Netherton told NanaimoNewsNOW this year’s advanced polls were a perfect storm.

“I think a holiday weekend, an occasion where people get together and talk politics and that’s what is on everybody’s mind. It all came together with advanced polling on a holiday weekend. I can’t think of a better combination.”

Alberta polls for today’s election are open until 7:30 p.m.

Full coverage of today’s election, including live results as soon as the polls close, can be found at our “Federal Election 2019” page.

(With file from NanaimoNewsNOW)