Advanced voting more than doubles in Saskatchewan and across Canada

Voters who braced long lines at the advanced polls in Saskatchewan last weekend doubled the number of ballots cast in the 2011 advanced polls.

Across Saskatchewan 95,829 votes were counted between Oct. 9-12, up 51,000 votes in advanced polls cast in the last federal election.

From coast-to-coast Elections Canada reports 3.6 million voters cast an early ballot, a 71 per cent increase from advanced polls in 2011.

Elections Canada said over 850,000 Canadians voted on Friday and over 1.2 million on Monday, representing the two busiest days of advance voting ever.

In Regina advanced ballot numbers shot up 12,817 up to 21,900 across the three new urban-ridings. The greatest turnout saw more than 8,000 electors vote in the Regina-Lewvan riding. In 2011 advanced polls in Regina only saw 9,083.

In Saskatoon advanced ballots jumped to 29,810, over 18,000 more votes than the 11,797 who voted in the advanced polls in 2011. The greatest turnout was in Saskatoon-West at more than 10,000 votes.