People walk by signage for a polling station during early voting in Montreal, April 19.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
A record 7.3 million people voted in advance polls over the long weekend, Elections Canada says, about one-quarter of all registered voters.
This is a 25-per-cent increase over the 5.8 million people who voted in advance polls in the 2021 election, the agency said, noting that the numbers are an estimate as some polls may not have reported yet.
Advance polls were open across the country for four days over the Easter long weekend. Many Canadians saw long lineups at polling stations on Good Friday, the first day of advance voting. Elections Canada had previously said that more than two million Canadians voted that day.
Over all, about 28.2 million people are registered to vote in this election as of March, Elections Canada said. The agency said it will publish a breakdown of the advance polling turnout by province and riding later this week.
Dalhousie University political-science professor Lori Turnbull said she was not surprised to see that the voter turnout at advance polls had increased, adding she expects overall turnout to increase for this election.
All of the factors that drive voter turnout have been present, she said, including that advance polls were particularly accessible and that voters are tuned in to a close race with plenty of issues at stake.
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There is a sense that this election is consequential, she said, and that people have already made up their minds, which may have also contributed to the record turnout.
“This campaign has a sense of being over, and so the last week will really be about mobilizing the votes,” Prof. Turnbull said.
Alex Marland, the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership at Acadia University, said he expects parties will probably have more visceral messaging this week.
“A classic example of this is how, you know, the Liberals in the last days of the campaign will try to scare NDP supporters not to vote NDP, because they’ll project it as possibly providing a roadway for [a] Conservative government,” he said.
Given the advance polling turnout, parties will now try to squeeze out votes from a smaller accessible voter pool, he said, meaning that voter identification efforts will be key.
He said that while having 7.3 million people vote in advance polls is quite high, he would have expected it to be even higher given the change in circumstances from the last election.
In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, and there was nowhere near the amount of polarization that exists now, he said. He also cited the high Canada-U.S. tensions today, and the sense that a change in government is on the line.
The 2025 general election will take place on April 28.