OTTAWA — OTTAWA - Elections Canada says more than 68 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the federal election – more than 19.5 million people.
While this election was widely expected to see increased turnout, it did not surpass the record set in March 1958, when 79.4 per cent of eligible Canadians voted.
But the nearly 68.7 per cent turnout was the best since the 1993 federal election, which saw 69.6 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
Elections Canada says early estimates indicate 11 million people voted at their polling station or in their long-term care facility on election day.
The agency says nearly 7.3 million Canadians voted at advance polls while 1.2 million voted by special ballot.
Elections Canada does not gather demographics data so it’s not clear which groups turned out to vote, but it says postelection surveys can show which groups faced barriers to voting and what can be done to address them in future elections.
The Liberal party ended the election with 43.7 per cent of the total vote and 169 seats, while the Conservative party secured 41.3 per cent of the vote and 144 seats.
The Bloc Quebecois and the NDP both took 6.3 per cent of the vote, and will hold 22 and seven seats, respectively.
Would have been 2 more if Elections Canada did not fumble sending us the out of country voting package. Sure there are many others in the same boat.
In Mexico, I had to apply to be added to the Register of International Electors, which i did on 24 March. My wife received her ballot kit on 4 April. Mine had to be resent by Elections Canada due to my Canadian postal code being entered as my address abroad. Nevertheless, i received my ballot kit on 11 or 12 April. On 14 April, in cooperation with another Canadian couple, we put all four of the envelopes in a DHL envelope and sent it back. Three days later I was notified by EC that they were received. So our mail-in ballots reached our respective electoral districts in good time to be counted. Just a good news story! FYI: The DHL envelope and the outermost EC envelope had both been opened, presumably by Mexican Customs officials.
Mine got majorly delayed as I was asked to show ID with my Canadian mailing address on it, but like most who have moved out of country I was using a family members mailing address. Of course my Canadian IDs had my last home address and not my family members as why would it? I moved out of the country. We went back and forth with each reply taking Elections Canada 5-7 days. I ended up filling my taxes with my family members address and sent them my NOA which worked but it was too late by the time I received the package.
How did you avoid this address issue?
I submitted photos online of our passport pages as ID when applying to the Registry of International Voters. Of course, a passport does not have one’s address. I suspect being on the registered voters list in the riding (despite it was significantly redrawn in 2022) for a decade might have helped to corroborate our bona fides.
Same here. What was your hold up? Mine was my ID did not match my mailing address as of course not, I left the country and cannot get my Canadian ID updated with a foreign address? We went back and forth and each round it took Elections Canada 5-7 days to respond. I eventually just filled my taxes with a family’s address in Canada and used the NOA as the proof of address. I am so disappointed in the process. Does not even make sense. I get they want to put you in the right riding, but you literally moved out of the country and are not in a riding. They need to inspect their process as this one is broken.
There were huge issues in Nunavik as well, leading to many indigenous communities essentially losing the right to vote https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/makivvik-corp-calls-for-investigation-after-voting-irregularities-in-nunavik/
