The craze for advance voting is confirmed: in two days, more than one in five voters has already exercised their right to vote, a marked increase compared to 2018. But above all, it is the first time that the bar 20% is exceeded on this plan.
Posted at 10:07 a.m.
Updated at 10:30 a.m.
According to data released Tuesday morning by the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ), 22.92% of voters cast their ballot in the ballot box on Sunday and Monday, the two days reserved for advance voting. across the province. On Sunday alone, 12.57% of voters had voted.
In total, more than 1.4 million voters have already exercised their right to vote. In Quebec, this is the first time that the rate of participation in advance voting has exceeded the 20% threshold.
In 2018, 17.93% of voters voted in advance, counting those same two days as well as votes recorded on campuses and at returning offices in each riding. This is therefore an increase of almost 5% compared to four years ago.
In 2014, many Quebecers voted in advance (19.27% of voters). But despite everything, the signs that the trend is on the rise are clear: in 2008, only 11.8% of the population went to the polls before polling day.
Joined by The Press, the DGEQ indicated on Tuesday that it did not have studies to date which “make it possible to identify trends in the behavior of voters”. “We cannot say whether this is a displacement of the vote or an indication of the overall participation to come,” explained spokesperson Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège, about the increase in advance voting.
Quebec still at the top
True to form, voters in the ridings of the Québec region remain the most fond of advance polling. It is Louis-Hébert, with no less than 39.50% of votes already recorded, who wins the prize, followed by Lévis (33.77%) and Chauveau (32.53%), where the Conservative leader Éric Duhaime tries to get elected. Vanier-Les-Rivières (31.94%) and Charlesbourg (31.74%) complete the top 5.
At the other end, the ridings of Ungava (6.96%) and D’Arcy-McGee (10.55%) are the ones with the least advance voting. The ridings of Jeanne-Mance–Viger (12.44%), Acadie (12.66%) and Saint-Laurent (12.83%) also seem uninterested in voting in advance.
Recall that the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, also voted early 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.
For those who cannot vote on polling day, October 3, but who still wish to exercise their right, it is possible to vote directly at the offices of the returning officers in each electoral district. 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.
With Vincent Larin