People Turn Out to Vote in Droves

Almost 2 million people voted on the first day of advance polls

Yesterday was the first day of advance polls and Elections Canada reports nearly 2 million people cast their ballots across the country for the federal election on April 28.

Advance polls are available for four days, until Easter Monday.

In Metro Vancouver, long lines were reported in the city's West End, Langley, Surrey and the riding of Vancouver-Granville.

Unlike the city's by-elections, there are no special provisions for the elderly, and so everyone had to wait in line.

Concerned about this prospect, we made the strategic move today to vote at dinnertime, when we thought most people would be preoccupied with eating.

So we had an early dinner and rushed to the advance voting location (different from the location for the actual voting day).

We easily got a parking spot at the elementary school and lo and behold -- four people ahead of us!

The man who greeted us at the door checked our voting cards to make sure we were in the right place and then we waited in line.

Two people checked one person's ID to make sure it matched with their voter card, and then manually found their name in a printed list and crossed their name off before giving them a small voter ballot that was folded.

Actually it was just one person doing that work, and then him reading out some code numbers for the second person to take down.

When a voter completed the ballot, he or she went back to that first person, who ripped off a grey strip from the ballot before the voter could stuff it into the cardboard box.

Is it any wonder why people waited so long yesterday? It seems there is only one master list and to avoid duplication and manipulation of it, only one person can have access to it, hence the bottleneck.

With two more days to go, hopefully there will be more people voting by Monday.

In the 2021 election, almost 5.8 million people voted in advance polls. A total of 17,209,811 voters cast their ballots, representing a voter turnout of 62.6 percent.

As many people are calling this the most contentious election in decades, hopefully the turnout will be even higher. Every vote counts!