OTTAWA – The turnout at advance on-campus polling places across Canada was considerably up from 2015.
As part of the Vote on Campus initiative from Elections Canada that ran from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9, 111,300 electors took part.
On the final day of the program nearly as many people voted as did in the entirety of the initiative in 2015.
According to Elections Canada the total turnout as of Oct. 8 was 45,000 and then by Oct. 9 another 66,300 electors had voted.
The initiative was first piloted during the last federal election at 39 locations, and had just over 70,000 electors cast their ballots. This time there were Vote on Campus stations set up at 119 locations.
Voting as part of the Vote on Campus program is done with a special ballot.
During the last federal election, voter turnout among people aged 18 to 24 rose from 38.8 per cent in 2011 to 57.1 per cent, what Elections Canada says was the "largest increase for this age group” since it began reporting demographic data on turnout in 2004.
“Amazing job, fellow students! We got out to vote on campus in numbers never seen before,” tweeted the Canadian Alliance for Student Associations (CASA) in response to the 2019 Vote on Campus numbers. CASA has been running a Get Out The Vote campaign, and had previously told CTVNews.ca that turnout was expected to double.
Today also marked the beginning of four days of advance polling across Canada. Operating from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Friday, Oct. 11 to Monday, Oct. 14.
Click here to find your polling place.
With files from CTV News' Sarah Turnbull.
