In most counties in the Quebec region, advance voting is higher than the national average, according to data compiled by Elections Quebec after the first day on Sunday.
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It is in Louis-Hébert that the participation rate is the highest, at 22.17%. The national average is more like 12.57%. Several voters took advantage of the advance poll in Charlesbourg (18.68%), Chauveau (17.96%) and Vanier-Les Rivières (17.33%).
A voter, who went to vote Sunday at the end of the day at the Patro Roc-Amadour, on 1st Avenue in Limoilou, had to wait “a good 30 minutes” in a long line.
“I don’t remember having waited so long before going to vote. The people on the spot told me that it was even longer in the middle of the afternoon”, she underlined.
Also on Monday, the polls were busy. In La Peltrie, for example, voters had to wait outside the Neufchâtel library.
“I vote in advance, because next Monday I will be out of the country. In fact, there are a lot of people. I have never waited so long for an advance vote. I dare to hope that it is because people take their duty as citizens seriously. Perhaps there are positions that are taken in relation to a particular party, ”shared a voter at the exit of the polling station.
“Most of the time I vote in advance because it’s too long to wait for the day of the vote. The queues are long and we are getting old,” added Diane Simard, who also took advantage of the advance poll.
Rising
There are 715 advance polling stations in Quebec, including 59 in the Capitale-Nationale.
“What we realize this year is that on the first day of advance voting which was yesterday (Sunday), we have an overall rate of 12.57% and in 2018, after the first day, we had 7.23%. So, we have a good increase,” said Dany Lapointe, spokesperson for Élections Québec.
However, the rate of participation in the advance poll is not a guarantee of the rate of participation in the general elections of next October 3. In 2018, the turnout stood at 66.45%, a figure that has been falling since the 2012 elections (74.5%).
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Effect of PCQ?
Although voter turnout was particularly high in the ridings targeted by the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) on the first day of advance voting, the data does not indicate that there is necessarily any sign of “the effect conservative”, nuanced the political scientist Philippe Dubois.
“I don’t know if it’s so much a conservative effect as a competition effect. There are five parties vying for votes this year, which means there are five organizations trying to identify their voters and send them to the polls,” he explained.
A high turnout in these counties would rather be an indicator that the electoral organizations consider it particularly important to cast their vote in these places during the advance poll.
“We can assume that the organizers of the PCQ and the CAQ have put the package in Quebec as the race seems tight. They want to get their vote out as soon as possible,” added the political scientist.
Advance voting continues Monday, until 8 p.m. The places where people can vote are indicated on the Elections Québec website, as well as on the registration notices received by mail.
In collaboration with QMI Agency
Turnout after Sunday’s day by constituency
- Charlesbourg: 18.68%
- Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré: 11.65%
- Chauveau: 17.96%
- Jean Lesage: 15.41%
- Jean Talon: 16.51%
- La Peltrie: 14.38%
- Louis-Hebert: 22.17%
- Montmorency: 14.36%
- Portneuf: 12.81%
- Taschereau: 15.60%
- Vanier-Les Rivievres: 17.33%
Source: Elections Quebec