P.E.I. in line with national trend after 'huge' first day of advance voting in federal election
Elections Canada says nearly 2 million people across the country voted on Friday
Prince Edward Islanders appear to have turned out in droves to vote on the first day of advance polling for the federal election, with many waiting in long lines for an hour or more.
Those lines were running a bit more smoothly by the time Kathryn Lewis cast her ballot Saturday at Simmons Sports Centre in Charlottetown.
"I think it's going to be a really busy election, so I wanted to vote now instead of waiting in line on election day," Lewis said.
"It was excellent. They have a lot of people in there directing you where to go, it's very quick…. I was in and out in five minutes."
That wasn't the case on Good Friday, the first of four days of advance polls over the Easter weekend.
Some Islanders posted on social media that they were waiting in line for up to two hours.
Turns out there was a good reason for that — a "huge" increase in the number of people who turned out across the country, said said Françoise Enguehard, the media relations adviser in the Atlantic region for Elections Canada
"The preliminary estimates indicate that close to two million people voted [Friday], and that is up 36 per cent from the last election for the same period of time," Enguehard said. "It's really great to see that electors are really engaged."
She added that polling stations on P.E.I. and elsewhere in the country were staffed appropriately for the advance voting days, despite some rumours to the contrary.
Enguehard said Elections Canada hired about the same number of staff as it did for previous votes, around 250,000 people in Canada, and that most advance polls were fully staffed Friday.
Other voting options
The agency said workers can address long wait times by bringing extra staff and "splitting" polls, which allows electors to be served by more tables.
They can also redirect voters to other options, like voting at an Elections Canada office until Tuesday, April 22 at 6 p.m.
After that, you'll have to wait for election day, April 28.
With files from Connor Lamont