More than 20,700 voters in the Cariboo-Prince George and Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies ridings were estimated to have visited the polls over the Thanksgiving long weekend.
According to preliminary numbers released Wednesday by Elections Canada from the four days of advanced polls held Oct. 9-12, 9,891 ballots were cast in Cariboo-Prince George while 10,878 were counted in Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies.
More than half a million advanced ballots were cast in B.C. with early voting up 71 per cent nationwide over 2011.
In Cariboo-Prince George, the early polls represent nearly 23 per cent of the overall turnout for 2011, while 28 per cent of the overall 2011 Prince George-Peace River voter turnout was represented by the weekend's ballots.
"Many Canadians chose to vote at advance polls in this election," said Mark Mayrand, Canada's chief electoral officer, in a press release. "Having four polling days provided greater flexibility and convenience for voters."
Traditionally, there were only three days of advanced polls, but the extra day on Sunday was added as part of the changes established by the Fair Elections Act, which came into effect last June.
But the increases in early voting don't necessarily mean that overall turnout is going to be on the rise this year, cautioned UNBC political science instructor Jason Morris.
People who were going to vote anyway may have simply chosen to do so earlier, he said.
"I know that U.S. research has found voter turnout not going up with early voting opportunities," he said.
A large early turnout also doesn't automatically mean the vote is leaning one way as opposed to another, he said, but it could help.
"Early voting is really liked by the campaign teams because they can get their volunteers to mark their ballots early and that frees them up for the tasks on the election day," said Morris. "And that can really help just parties and their campaign teams get out the vote for their side."
Final numbers on the number of advanced voters will be released with the official voting results after the Oct. 19 election.
