Almost one in five registered voters turned up at advance polls leading up to general election day.
That’s just over 19 per cent of voters in the 85 provincial electoral districts casting early ballots according to statistics issued by Elections BC.
Advance polls were offered across the province on six days between April 29 and May 6.
And while it doesn’t seem like an earth shattering number, it’s actually record-breaking, with the turnout obliterating 2013 numbers.
This time around, 614,389 of 3,156,991 registered voters chose to skip the May 9 lineups.
According to Elections BC, 380,741 people voted early over the four advance days in 2013.
This year, many of the voters were from Vancouver Island ridings.
In the Cowichan Valley riding, 24 per cent of the electorate took advantage of early polls.
Total advance turnout saw 10,639 of 44,071 registered voters cast ballots over the six days leading up to general election day.
It was a busy second day at the advance polls in the Nanaimo-North Cowichan riding with 2,348 but the other five days saw a lower turnout resulting in just under a 15.5 per cent early turnout overall.
Esquilmalt-Metchosin topped the province with 11,039 of 37,692 voters getting out there early — good for 29 per cent.
Courtney-Comox and Saanich North and the Islands both hovered around 27 per cent while Oak Bay-Gordon Head and Parksville-Qualicum came in about 25 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
For all the latest on election night go to www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com and www.lakecowichangazette.com where we will be posting up-to-the-minute results. Check out our social media coverage on Twitter and Facebook.