Over 891,000 people cast ballots during the entire advance voting period for British Columbia’s October 2026 provincial election, down by about 11 per cent from the record set almost exactly two years ago during the October 2024 provincial election.
Elections BC’s preliminary figures show 891,348 people participated over six days, from Oct. 16 to 21, 2026. That is equivalent to about 23.8 per cent of the 3,738,182 registered voters on the provincial list as of Oct. 14.
The provincial election’s main voting day — the final opportunity to vote — takes place on Saturday, Oct. 24, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time. Voters can go to any voting location to cast their ballot.
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This year’s advance voting ballot total is 110,656 below the finalized count of 1,002,004 advance ballots in the 2024 provincial election, which also offered six days of advance voting.
However, advance participation remained substantially higher than in earlier elections.
The 2026 advance total is about 30 per cent higher than the 685,416 advance voting ballots recorded in the October 2020 provincial election, when seven days of advance voting were available during the pandemic.
It is also about 44 per cent higher than the 617,175 advance ballots recorded in 2017, which offered six days of advance voting.
Compared with 2013, when advance voting was available over four days, this year’s participation was more than double the finalized total of 378,437 advance ballots.
Advance voting figures alone do not establish whether overall election turnout will rise or fall, as they cover only one way of participating. In the 2020 provincial election, for instance, amid the pandemic, 596,287 ballots were cast by mail, accounting for approximately 31.4 per cent of all ballots in that election.
For the 2026 provincial election, Saturday, Oct. 17, was the busiest advance voting day, with 201,774 participants. That day coincided with the the civic elections held in communities across B.C. to select the next municipal government leaders. The final advance voting day for the provincial election, Wednesday, Oct. 21, was the second busiest, with 178,956 participants.
Across Vancouver’s 12 provincial ridings, advance voting locations recorded a combined total of 107,126 participants. Vancouver-Point Grey — the riding of Premier David Eby — had the highest count in the city at 11,419, followed by Vancouver-Quilchena at 11,146 and Vancouver-West End at 10,559.
The 10 Surrey-named ridings, including Surrey-White Rock, recorded a combined total of 81,810 participants. Surrey-White Rock led that group with 13,557, followed by Surrey South with 9,727 and Surrey-Cloverdale with 9,296.
Across the entire province, Ladysmith-Oceanside recorded the highest advance voting count at 17,436. Saanich North and the Islands followed with 17,021, ahead of Penticton-Summerland at 15,651.
These riding figures reflect where people voted, rather than where they live. As voters can cast a ballot outside their home riding, the totals should not be interpreted as the number of residents of each riding who participated.
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