Ontario election heats up early, with 6% of voters already casting their ballots
According to the Ontario Electoral Office, approximately 6% of eligible voters in Ontario have cast their ballots in the three-day advance voting for this early election.
According to CTV, on Monday, the independent Ontario Electoral Office stated that preliminary data showed a total of 678789 voters went to polling stations from Thursday to Saturday, accounting for 6.14% of eligible voters, which is a "change" compared to previous elections.
In the last provincial election in 2022, 1066545 Ontario residents (slightly less than 10%) exercised their voting rights before election day. In contrast, this means that the early voter turnout for this election has decreased by more than one-third.
That being said, the early voting in the last election lasted for 10 days, while this time it only lasted for three days.
The last election had the lowest voter turnout in Ontario's election history, with approximately 44% of eligible voters in Ontario casting their ballots. In the end, Ford won a landslide victory for the Conservative Party.
In the 2018 election, 698609 voters participated in early voting within five days.
But overall, the number of voters in 2018 was higher than in 2022, with a voter turnout of nearly 57%.
Thank you to all the voters who participated in the early voting, as well as the dedicated staff who worked hard to ensure the safety, efficiency, and security of the province's voting process. If you haven't voted yet, it's still time - please go to your local election office or vote on election day, "said Greg Essensa, Ontario's Chief Electoral Officer, in a press release.
Although the election day is February 27th and the voting time is from 9am to 9pm, Ontario residents can still go to the local election office from 9am to 6pm to vote in advance before February 26th.
In addition, the Ontario Electoral Office must receive mailed ballots before 6pm on election day for the ballots to be counted.
Source link:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/roughly-six-per-cent-of-eligible-ontario-voters-cast-their-ballots-at-advance-polls-elections-ontario/