Advance Voting | A busy first day

The first day of advance voting was particularly popular in Quebec on Sunday. No less than 12.57% of Quebecers then cast their ballot in the ballot box.

Posted at 8:17 p.m.

Vincent Larin

Vincent Larin
The Press

These figures were made public by Election Quebec on Monday. During the last general election in Quebec, in 2018, this rate was 7.23% at the same time of the campaign.

Note that these figures do not include the participation rate for the second day of advance polling, which took place on Monday. In 2018, 17.93% had voted in advance, counting these two days as well as the votes recorded on campuses and at the offices of the returning officers in each electoral district.

For those who will not be able to vote on polling day, next October 3, but who still wish to avail themselves of their right between now and then, it is possible to vote directly at the offices of the returning officers in each electoral division. These will be open Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Thursday, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Even more popular in Quebec

As usual, this year, the electoral divisions where the advance polls were the most during this first day are almost all located in the Capitale-Nationale region, namely Louis-Hébert (22.17%), Lévis (19.58%), Charlesbourg (18.68%), Chauveau (17.96%) and Vanier-Les Rivières (17.33%). 

At the back of the pack, we find the riding of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, for the reasons that we know, that of Ungava, in Nord-du-Québec, and several ridings in western Montreal, including D’Arcy-McGee (6.89%), Jeanne-Mance–Viger (7.82%) and Saint-Laurent (7.86%).

In an extremely rare gesture, the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec, François Legault, voted in advance on Sunday, in his riding of L’Assomption.

He is the only leader to have done so, whereas in normal times, the leaders of political parties exercise their right to vote on polling day, an opportunity for them to encourage voters to go to the polls by lending themselves exercise themselves in front of the cameras.

Turnout at advance polls increased over the course of the election, but it never crossed the 20% threshold. It reached 17.9% in 2018 – compared to 11.8% 10 years earlier.


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