Yellowhead voters turned out in droves to vote in advance polls over the Thanksgiving weekend, with 10,854 voters casting ballots during four days of advance polling.
That's a 123 per cent increase over the number of people who voted during three days of advance polling in 2011, according to preliminary data from Elections Canada.
“The polls were very busy right across the country,” said Leanne Nyirfa, Elections Canada regional media advisor for Alberta.
Due to the surge of voters turning up to cast their ballots across the country, many people reported long lineups at polling stations, including in Jasper.
Soto Korogonas and his wife Ashley were the first two people in line at the Jasper Activity Centre on Friday. Korogonas said it took them 20 minutes to vote because of complications with their identification.
“There was quite some confusion about checking IDs and the fact that you had to have an address with you on some sort of documentation,” he said.
The main issue, according to Korogonas, was that people weren't able to use their voter information cards as a form of ID or proof of address.
Voter information cards are no longer considered valid pieces of ID under the Fair Elections Act passed by the Conservative government in 2014. The cards, when matched with the proper ID, are now just a way of expediting the voting process.
“Voting should not be a hassle,” said Korogonas. “It should be something we can do pretty easily.”
Despite the confusion at the polls, Oct. 9, Korogonas said the electoral officers were extremely patient and quick to explain the new rules.
Nationally, around 3.6 million people voted in advance polls, a 71 per cent increase over the number of electors who cast ballots during advance polling in 2011, according to Elections Canada.
This is the first election advanced polls were open for four days. In previous years it was only three.
Elections Canada estimated that 1.2 million people voted on Thanksgiving Monday, 767,000 on Sunday, 780,000 on Saturday and 850,000 on Friday.
Nearly 400,000 more people voted during the first three days of advance polling than in 2011. That's a 16 per cent increase over 2011, according to Elections Canada.
Nyirfa said Elections Canada was well aware of the lineups and explained that laws limit the number of polling stations allowed at each advance polling location.
“According to the Canada Elections Act and legislation we can only have one ballot box per polling station,” she said.
“I can tell you that there will be a lot more ballot boxes on election day.”
On Oct. 19, there will be thousands more polling stations across Canada, including 7,000 polling stations across Alberta. In comparison, there were only 505 advanced polling stations in the province over the four-day period.
According to Elections Canada, on election day there will be “fast lanes” at polling locations for electors that have registered, have a registration card and have the proper pieces of identification.
Paul Clarke
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