Provincial Election posted Oct 13, 2024 @ 12:01pm by Corvin Vaski

Nearly half a million advanced votes placed as BC NDP and Cons remain close in polls

It has been a strong start to the advanced voting period of the 2024 BC provincial election as crowds have come out in record numbers.

The first day of advanced voting (Oct. 10) saw a record turnout of 171,381 voters submit a ballot, marking the most votes placed on a single advanced voting day in a BC election, surpassing the previous high of 126,491 in 2017.

<who> Photo Credit: NowMedia

While the next couple of days did not see the same volume of voters, there was still a steady total that would have also surpassed the previous high from 2017.

On Friday, 155,464 voters made their way to the polls. Saturday saw a turnout of 150,250 people vote across the province.

The final voting day of the election is this Saturday, Oct. 19, and with less than a week remaining, the polls indicate that it is still a close race.

An Ipsos poll from Oct. 10 gave the NDP a five-point advantage over the BC Conservatives, with 46% of respondents planning to support or lean towards the incumbent government.

The Ipsos poll added that the NDP has the advantage when it comes to older voters but trails the Conservatives in support from the younger demographic.

Earlier in the week, two polls from Mainstreet Research gave the Conservatives a three-point and then a six-point lead over the NDP.

Up-to-date voter turnout stats can be found online at this link.

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