UPEI Political Science Professor Don Desserud. (submitted)
Whether or not this federal election will see a good voter turnout remains a big question.
Political Science Professor at the University of Prince Edward Island Don Desserud says he originally predicted lower numbers but things may be different this time because it is a lot easier to vote, “The mail-in ballots, for example, and just how our voting procedures are, have improved over the years with access to voting. I’m getting the sense that as much as people are frustrated about the election, they’re willing to take up that frustration at the polls. That won’t necessarily be good news for the Liberals. I suspect it will be down, but I don’t think it will be disastrously down.”
Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault says preliminary figures show for advance polling in this federal election show 5,780,000 electors voted between September 10th and 13th.
This is an 18.46% increase from the 4,879,312 electors who voted in advance of the 2019 general election.
Elections Canada has already predicted up to 4.3 million mail-in ballots, but they won’t be counted until on September 21st, which is the day after the election.
That could ultimately delay a final result in a close election.
Federal election day is September 20th.
