Thousands head to advance polls in Calgary to vote on 'fairly complex ballot'

CALGARY -

Voters are turning up in the thousands to cast a ballot for the next mayor and council, already eclipsing 2017’s total.

That year, 74,965 people voted in advanced polls.

As of Thursday, an estimated 81,271 Calgarians had already cast a ballot in advanced polls, something ThinkHQ president Marc Henry feels is not all too surprising.

“We found in the survey we did back in September that over 40 per cent of Calgary voters say they prefer to vote at an advanced poll ahead of time,” he said.

“You avoid the crowd and the lineup and people are still a little extra cautious about that.”

Henry says this year is different due to an ongoing pandemic.

“I get the sense a lot of voters are distracted this time around,” he said.

“The federal election was a bit fatiguing for voters, you’ve got things going on with COVID you got the province sort of imploding.”

For voter Peter Forte, Saturday was the perfect day to vote, as lines were much shorter.

“I also think this is a fairly complex ballot, and so it’s going to take people time,” he said.

“When we had the federal election I found it very, very slow, at the polling stations. There weren’t that many.”

Advance polls close on Sunday, ahead of election day on Oct. 18.