SDSG – While across Canada there’s been a surge in advance polling, we won’t be able to get a picture of how engaged voters are in Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry.
As well, the national trend doesn’t necessarily mean people are engaged locally.
More than two million Canadians cast ballots during the first two days the polls were open – Friday and Saturday – which is up about 25 per cent compared to the 2015 election.
But Elections Canada says it’s not releasing any local data.
“We don’t really release numbers ahead of time. I can tell you in generalities that in some areas numbers were up, in some areas numbers were down. Across the country generally the turnout was up from 2015 but that doesn’t mean that was the situation in every area,” Joan O’Neill, field returning officer for Eastern Ontario, told Cornwall Newswatch Tuesday.
“We’ve never been giving specific numbers,” she said.
During the 2008 and 2011 federal elections, the then-returning officer for SDSG shared numbers with local media outlets. In 2011, 9,902 people cast ballots over three days of voting. In 2008, it was just over 7,000 voters.
Election Day is Monday (Oct. 21) when polls open locally at 9:30 a.m.