More than 700,000 votes registered at advance polls: Elections Alberta

Saturday is the final day of advance voting ahead of the Oct. 19 referendum. And, if the week’s numbers are any indication, business will be brisk at polling stations across the province.

Elections Alberta announced Saturday that, through the first four days of advance voting, 703,914 Albertans had marked their ballots on 10 referendum questions. The focal point is the question on whether or not the province should pursue independence from Canada. Put those numbers together with the special ballots received, and more than 1.2 million Albertans have already voted.

To put that into perspective, total voter turnout for the 2023 provincial election was 1,777,315, or a little over 60 per cent. This referendum is on pace to smash that number.

Elections Alberta’s numbers show that each of the previous four days of advance voting has been steady.
Day 1: 174,532
Day 2: 186,742
Day 3: 168,230
Day 4: 174,320

Given the high turnout at the advance polls, Elections Alberta advised anyone waiting till Oct. 19 to vote “to come early in the day, if they have any flexibility.”

The advance poll rush was felt Friday night, as 19 polling stayed open after the specified closing time in order to accommodate long lineups. The Athabasca pilling location remained open till 10 p.m. to make up for time lost due to Wednesday power outage.

Elections Alberta has also processed 516,000 special ballots. These were ballots tht came through Canada Post. The cutoff date for special ballots was Friday. Elections Alberta said the processing of those special ballots will occur over the next day.

ssandor@postmedia.com