Just 6% of eligible Ontario voters cast early ballot as election day nears

Just six per cent of eligible voters in Ontario took advantage of advance voting in this year’s general election, preliminary data shows.

The figures, released by Elections Ontario on Monday morning, mark a change from previous provincial elections: in 2022, 1,066,545 eligible voters (9.92 per cent) voted over a period of 10 advance days, and in 2018, 698,609 voters (6.8 per cent) cast their ballot over five days of advance voting.

Due to the snap election this year, 678,789 voters cast their ballot over three days (Feb. 20, 21 and 22) of advance voting – a turnout of 6.14 per cent.

Elections Ontario estimates roughly 10.8 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday. Voters can still cast their ballot at their local election office until Wednesday, and can vote until 9 p.m. at their assigned location on election day.

Voter turnout figures have been looming over the current election after just 44 per cent of registered voters turned out in June 2022 for the scheduled, summer election.

The last early election in Canada, which played out in Nova Scotia last fall, saw a new record low for voter turnout.

Data from Elections Nova Scotia found roughly 45 per cent of people voted in the November snap poll on the East Coast, down 10 percentage points from 2021. The result was the first time turnout had dipped below 50 per cent in the Maritime province and its lowest-ever turnout.

The timing of Nova Scotia’s election appeared to play a part in the disengagement.

“Turnout was lower than it typically was, as far as voter enthusiasm. To me, it feels like the election wasn’t really gripping people, I don’t think there was really widespread anger over an early election call,” Lori Turnbull, a professor with Dalhousie University’s faculty of management, told Global News earlier this month.

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“It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Tim Houston and the Progressive Conservatives were going to win an even bigger majority.”

New Ipsos polling conducted for Global News shows if the election were held tomorrow, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives would record a comfortable win.

Friday’s poll shows Ford’s party pulled 46 per cent support, with Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals in second place at 25 per cent. Marit Stiles and the NDP were in third at 21 per cent and Mike Schreiner’s Green Party was in fourth place at eight per cent.

The poll represents a slight shift from public opinion at the beginning of the campaign. The PCs are down four points, the Greens are up two and both the Liberals and NDP have seen a one-point boost.

— with files from Isaac Callan and Colin D’Mello

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