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Early turnout breaks records as more than a million people vote ahead of B.C. election

B.C. election will take place on Oct. 24
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Don’t forget to vote. The election will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. (Katya Slepian/Black Press Media)

Early voting for the 2020 provincial election has broken records, according to data released by Elections BC Thursday (Oct. 22).

The agency said 681,055 people cast their ballot during seven days of advanced voting that ended Wednesday, compared to 614,389 in 2017. In 2013, there were 366,558 people who voted in advance and 290,220 in 2009, with fewer yet in earlier elections.

There have also been 396,900 mail-in ballots (or 55 per cent of those sent out) returned to Elections BC as of 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, for a total of 1,077,955 votes cast ahead of Election Day on Saturday, Oct. 24. There are a total of 3,485,858 registered voters in B.C. as of Sept. 26.

Advanced voting days have finished but voters can cast a ballot at their local district electoral office until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. District electoral offices will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday. They will be open until 4 p.m. for in-person voting (until 8 p.m. for mail-in ballot drop-off) on Election Day Saturday.

For voters who haven’t sent their mail-in ballot yet, Elections BC recommends no longer mailing it but dropping it off at their district electoral office or at Service BC location, some of which have a 24/7 dropbox. For a list of Service BC locations and dropboxes, visit: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/service-bc-locations.pdf. Mail-in ballots can be dropped off at a polling station or a district electoral office on Election Day until 8 p.m. A list of district electoral offices can be found here: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/district-electoral-offices.pdf.

All hours are Pacific Standard Time.

READ MORE: Early voters more likely to favour NDP, but overall B.C. election is tightening: poll


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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