Both advanced voting opportunities are in the books in Duncan, North Cowichan, and Lake Cowichan.
In Duncan, the last three elections have seen increases in those who got their voting done early.
The amalgamation referendum in June saw more people use the advanced voting opportunities than any of the last three elections.
Duncan’s Chief Elections Officer Paige MacWilliam said, “This time around, we had 305 people turn up at both advanced days (combined) and during the mobile opportunities, 101 people had a chance to vote. During the amalgamation referendum last June, we had 112 people vote at the mobile opportunities and we were up a little bit in the advanced, as 332 people cast ballots.”
Part of the reason the mobile votes went from 141 in the 2011 Municipal Election, to just 112 in 2014 is that the number of mobile voting stations went from six to five.
North Cowichan has seen another huge increase in the number of people who participate in the advanced voting opportunities, as nearly 11 hundred voters cast a ballot ahead of the election.
Meantime, the Municipality’s Chief Elections Officer, Alyssa Meiner said the advanced voting opportunities have been growing in popularity.
“We had 1,079 voters come out, 710 voters (on October 16) and 369 on October 10, and the numbers for advanced voter turnout for 2014 were 836 and in 2011 they were 608, so it’s well above those levels,” said Meiner.
Lake Cowichan saw 347 people take advantage of the advanced voting opportunities.
The Town of Ladysmith won’t have numbers until later this week, as the last advanced voting opportunity in ‘Hero Town’ is October 17.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District is also working on releasing official numbers.
