Canadians who were hoping to beat the crowds by casting their votes in advance polls this weekend are in for a surprise, as many people have faced long lineups for the second straight day.

At polling stations in Halifax on Saturday, lines began to form early in the day.

Stephanie McInnis showed up early to cast her vote, and says crowds started to form soon after.

"There was no wait at all, but there's a lineup there now, so we got there just in time," McInnis told CTV Atlantic.

Some people faced a 40-minute wait just an hour after the polls opened, causing some potential voters to turn back.

"The lineup was far too long, and the way that they're verifying the people is taking too much time," said Verne Redmond.

Roy Langill, who was at a polling station that saw lines of over an hour, also complained that voting took too long to complete.

"It is just unacceptable. Everything's in longhand. It's supposedly a new process," said Langill.

Voters also reported long waits at some advance polling stations in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and elsewhere across the country.

In the nation's capital, wait times varied from 20 minutes to two hours.

One man said that the lines were longer than he's seen in past elections.

"I think we've voted here three or four times and generally we just walk in and walk up and vote," the man told CTV News.

"(But) I'm not going to wait an hour, you know. It is a nice day."

Newlyweds Ian and Arielle Borsuk went to the polls with their young child in tow.

Arielle, who took on her husband's surname, said the process took "a lot longer" than she expected because of the name change.

"I had my marriage certificate with me, and even with that, they were looking through all the forms again, and the registration really took a lot of time," Arielle said.

The advance polls are scheduled to remain open until Monday, and Elections Canada says voters can expect the process to take longer than it does on October 19.

"The special ballot voting and the advance poll voting all take a little longer than on Election Day, because there's the effort to ensure that people who vote ahead of time don’t vote again," said Elections Canada spokeswoman Joan O'Neil. "That's why there are more meticulous records kept."

The agency has apologized for the delays and said that extra staff has been added to some locations.

Francoise Enguehard, a spokeswoman for Elections Canada, defended the wait times, saying that the advance polling protocols protect the integrity of the process. However, she admitted that the turnout has been higher than anticipated.

"(It was) more than we expected. And of course, we have no way of gauging when people will decide to come and vote," said Enguehard.

Enguehard says the lineups are avoidable, but the agency is taking steps to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible.

"We have tried, where possible, to redeploy people and resources to make sure that the process can go quicker," said Enguehard.

She added that Elections Canada cannot simply add more ballot boxes to offset the long lines.

"Voting is also a serious matter and you can't just expedite it quickly in order to make it quicker," said Enguehard.

It is estimated that as many as 30 per cent of voters will cast their ballots over the long weekend.

Elections Canada says that approximately 850,000 people voted on Friday. It added the total is 26 per cent higher than the first day of advance polling in the 2011 election, and 90 per cent greater than the first day in the 2008 campaign.

Barry Kay, a political science professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, told CTV News Channel that it is a "healthy sign" that voters are flocking to the advance polls.

He added that, generally, they are used by "older people" and election workers.

And he hopes that they're not put off by the crowds.

"There's some older people who may find it very inconvenient to wait a half an hour in line to vote," said Kay.

"(And) there may be the odd one to be deterred, (but) I hope not very many and I hope if they are deterred they may come back on election day or there are still a few more days up until Monday for advance polls."

One voter in Montreal used the advance polls to voice his displeasure with the NDP's stance on the niqab.

The man, who wore a black cloth strapped to his face, told CTV Montreal in French that Canada shouldn't accept the niqab because it discriminates against women.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has said that he supports current rules that require women to remove face covers at citizenship ceremonies for identification purposes, but his party would not force a woman to reveal her face during the symbolic portion of the citizenship ceremony. Rather, the NDP would require women only to show their faces in private, so officials could confirm their identity.

A similar protest has also been planned for Election Day. A Facebook page, which calls for an end to face coverings, invites people to veil their faces to show their dissent. As of Saturday night, more than 9,000 people say they're planning to participate.

While many voters have opted to cast their votes ahead of October 19, pollster Sebastien Dallaire says that others typically decide in the last two days before the election.

"Our latest poll shows that almost four in ten voters are still considering their options, they're not sure what they're going to do," Dallaire said.

With a report from CTV Atlantic's Sarah Ritchie, CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux and CTV Ottawa