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.
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.
That is what I first submitted too. My passport which has no address. Then they said I need to send ID with an address so I sent my drivers license. Then they said it has to be a current address, but I moved out of country so how would I have an address on my ID. Then they suggested my Notice of Assessment which has a family members mailing address on it and that worked but by this point it was too late.