Many residents of B.C.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s Southern Interior region have already voted in the 2020 provincial election, leading to a record-breaking number of ballots cast.
Seven days of advanced voting ended Wednesday (Oct. 21), during which time 681,055 people cast their ballot around B.C. In 2017, 614,389 voted in advance voting, and in 2013, just 366,558. While in 2009, just 290,220 participated early on, with fewer ballots being cast in earlier elections.
This year, many in the Interior have already exercised their democratic right to vote.
In the Boundary-Similkameen riding, 10,791 out of 36,593 eligible voters have already cast a ballet. Next door in the Penticton riding, 12,240 of 48,525 people cast their ballot.
The story is similar in northern regions as well. In the Kelowna area, more than 30,000 exercised their right to vote.
In the Kelowna-West riding, 11,013 of 53,008 eligible, have voted. In Kelowna-Mission, 11,354 have voted out of 50,150 who are eligible. In Kelowna-Lake Country, 10,722 of 53,395 eligible, have voted.
To the north in the Vernon-Monashee riding, 9,991 of 52,479 eligible voters cast a ballet. In the Shuswap, 10,998 of 46,886 eligible have voted.
In Columbia River-Revelstoke riding, 6,662 of 26,116 people voted.
In total, 61,900 vote-by-mail packages were requested in the ridings mentioned above.
By Oct. 21, Elections BC had received an estimated 396,900 returned vote-by-mail packages. This represents about 55 per cent of packages issued to date.
This graph doesn't include the 2017 election, but advanced voter turnout was 614,389 people, with 6,517 mail-in ballots. We're at 396,900 mail-in ballots right now + there's still time for voters to return their ballots, though it's too late to mail.
91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” Kat Slepian (@katslepian)
READ MORE: Early turnout breaks records as more than a million people vote ahead of B.C. election
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