Albertans flock to advance polls, break day 1 record

Advance voters in Alberta’s election are flocking to the polls in record numbers, with over 160,000 people casting their ballots on Tuesday, beating the previous day one record by 16 per cent.

In Calgary’s Marda Loop, some voters say the weight of this year’s election is fuelling their desire to vote in advance.

“It’s the most important election we’ve had here,” said one man who was voting early to CityNews.

“I’ve lived in Alberta for 40 years, originally from Montreal, and it’s the most important election we’ve had here. You’ve got two parties with completely different visions.”

“In politics now, it’s incredibly important that we got out and make sure our vote is counted,” said another early voter.

Watch: Some Calgarians still contemplate voting in Alberta election

Christine Myatt is a senior consultant with Northwest Public Affairs, and she believes that the competitive nature of this year’s leadership race is translating into voter hype.

“It’s been a very tight race from start to finish this time around,” Myatt explained.

“Albertans understand that. They understand how important every vote is going to be, and I think that they’re quite eager to get out there and cast their ballots.”

Myatt says early voter turnout is unlikely to favour one party over the other, and with a lack of information on voters, it’s hard to interpret the numbers,

So instead, she suggests the undecided voter may be of more importance at this point in the race.

“Polling shows us that approximately 20 per cent of Albertans are still undecided in this election,” she said.

“So you can expect both leaders and both parties to be really hammering home their core messages, trying to convince those last few voters.”

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Elections Alberta is anticipating between 700,000 and one million ballots during advance polling for 2023.

Around 700,000 Albertans voted in advance in the 2019 election, with 234,475 people voting using the vote anywhere service.

In 2019, “vote anywhere” ballots were counted by high-speed tabulators, and the results were delayed for three days.

As of Wednesday evening, over 300,000 Albertans have cast their votes.

More information about election day and voting can be found online.