Voters in Courtenay-Comox and Esquimalt-Metchosin appear particularly eager to cast their ballots in the 2017 provincial election.
The two ridings ranked first and second in the province for the number of votes cast over the first weekend of advanced polling according to new numbers released by Elections B.C.
Courtenay-Comox, where Jim Benninger is a new candidate trying to hold the seat for the BC Liberals against Ronna-Rae Leonard of the NDP and Ernie Sellentin of the BC Green Party, saw 4260 voters cast ballots on Saturday and Sunday.
The second busiest riding was Esquimalt-Metchosin where another new candidate, Mitzi Dean, will also try to hold the seat for the BC NDP against Esquimalt mayor Barb Desjardins for the BC Liberals and Andy MacKinnon for the BC Greens.
Advanced Voting: Saturday-Sunday (source: Elections BC)
1- Courternay-Comox – 4260
2- Esquimalt-Metchosin – 4226
3- Vancouver-Fairview – 4106
4- Penticton – 4029
5- Parksville-Qualicum – 4018
Across the province, a total of 231,034 voters cast ballots on Saturday and Sunday.
That represents about 7.3% of the 3,156,911 registered voters across B.C.
Elections BC expects high turnout as advanced voting continues from Wednesday to Saturday, May 3rd to May 6th.
Advanced voting represented about 20% of all ballots cast in the 2013 provincial election.
You can find all the information you need on how and where to vote in advance here
(An earlier version of this article stated the NDP had held the riding of Courtenay-Comox)
Ben O'Hara
