If you were one of the millions who cast your ballot early over the long weekend, you likely had to stand in a long line.
Francoise Engerheard with Elections Canada, tell us on Friday alone nearly 2 million Canadians voted, which is the most ever for advanced polls.
“That is 36 per cent more people than on the first day of advanced polls in the last election. So, it’s quite a record number,” says Engerheard.
She says it was a surprise and a pattern seen all over the country, with some lines to vote that were an hour and a half long.
It got so busy in some areas, they had to bring in more staff.
“In some cases, the returning officer had people on standby, so they hired more people,” says Engerheard.
Was it busier because of a long weekend?
The advance polls happened to fall on a long, Easter weekend.
It is not clear if this the reason so many were eager to get out and vote on Friday, but Engerheard says, it’s possible it could have been a factor.
“People, we imagine, wanted to vote before they left. Maybe they had a trip planned. Maybe they were meeting family somewhere and so people wanted to exercise their right to vote and get it over with during that weekend,” adds Engerheard.
She adds, it’s not unusual to see more of a turnout on the first day, but the number of voters from last years’ advanced polls was 5 million in total.
There are still a number of hours left to cast your ballot Monday, before the federal election next week.
Final numbers on how many voted over the entire weekend, should come out Tuesday.
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