People are seizing the province’s offer of more opportunities to vote. Advance voting for this election is up 25 per cent in Chilliwack, and 64 per cent in Chilliwack-Hope, as compared to voting in the 2009 election.
A total of 6,758 people cast their ballots last week, Wednesday to Friday, in the Chilliwack and Chilliwack-Hope ridings, out of the 72,382 registered voters. These figures do not include advance voting on Saturday.
District electoral officer for Chilliwack-Hope, Bev Kennedy, believes that the remarkable rise in advance voting in the riding is due to heavier television and print advertising, and campaigning on social media.
Provincially, 25 per cent more ballots were cast last week than in the same period in 2009.
Advance voting has been steadily increasing since 1996, when it stood at only 6 per cent of the total people who voted. By the 2009 election, 18 per cent of all votes came through the advance polls.
Since 2001, the province offered advance voting on four days, and extended the hours to the current 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in 2009.
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