Advance voter turnout in B.C. is way up -- numbers show 70% more people chose to vote in the advance polls this provincial election as compared to last time.
According to Elections BC the total turnout over 6 days of advance polling totals about 614,000 -- about 19% of all registered voters. That compares to 366,000 advance voters in the last election, about 11% of all registered voters. However advance polls were only open for 4 days in 2013.
CFAX political analyst, UVic's Michael Prince, says it's hard to know exactly what this means, except that voters are showing a strong appetite to make their voices heard, with island ridings showing the highest turnouts:
"And the biggest, strongest turnout for advance voting anywhere in the province was here on the island. And not surprisingly it's in the tight races of Saanich North Island, Esquimalt-Metchosin, and up in the Cowichan Valley. So people know these are close races, they mean something, and the parties have been really mobilizing to get their people out."
Tomorrow (Tues) is election day. The polls open at 8 am and close at 8 pm.