Advanced voter turnout in Kamloops, Kelowna significantly higher than 2018

Voter turnout in Kelowna and Kamloops on the first day of advanced polls saw a significant boost compared to the previous municipal election.

A total of 1,471 people cast ballots on Wednesday, Oct. 5, in Kelowna, according to a city news release. In 2018, 966 ballots were cast, said deputy city clerk Laura Bentley, via email.

In Kamloops, voters also turned up early, with double the votes cast compared to 2018.

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“On October 5, 608 ballots were cast at Heritage House and 558 were cast at the McArthur Island Sports Centre Lounge, for a total of 1,166. In 2018, there was only one advanced poll at Heritage House and its first-day turnout was 581. The advanced voting opportunity on McArthur Island is new this year,” said deputy chief elections officer Courtney Ranger, via email.

Richard Johnston, political science professor at UBC, said voter issues tend to drive who heads to the polls early but doesn’t reflect on how turnout will go.

“There’s actually just a general trend towards early voting everywhere being made possible, U.S. and in Canada, provincial, federal and it’s just basically a convenience issue,” he said.

At one time, advance voting was discouraged but 20 years ago, those requirements eased. Increasing the number of polling stations and the days of advanced polls has been the general trend but it doesn’t mean more people will vote, Johnston said.

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People who always vote tend to do so early rather than on general election day.

“So what we’ve basically had is a redistribution of what is essentially the existing body of people, who actually turn out (to vote), away from election day to the advanced polls,” he said. “Many people argued for these changes on the grounds of making voting easier thus making turnout likely to go up but actually there’s no evidence that it does.”

Voter turnout is driven by how competitive the race is and how compelling the issues are and whether the party or candidates have volunteers prepared to go out and ask people to go to the polls, he said.

“If people are generally dismayed with politics, cynical, turned off, no amount of facilitation is going to get them to the polls," he said.

In Penticton, the first day of advanced polls didn’t see a significant increase from 2018 with 1,066 votes compared to 1,001 in 2018, said Angie Collison, chief election officer with the city.

Vernon saw 986 voters Oct. 5 but did not return a request for comment about advanced voting in 2018.

General municipal election day is Oct. 15.

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