More mail-in ballots for the Sept. 20 federal election have already been received in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski than in either of the two previous elections, Elections Canada data shows.
667 mail-in ballot kits were sent out to registered voters in the riding – 558 of them inside the riding, 107 currently outside the riding elsewhere in Canada and 12 currently out of the country.
523 in total have already been returned with a couple more days until the deadline.
Voters had until 6 p.m. Sept. 14 to request mail-in voting kits but ballots must be received by Elections Canada before polls close Sept. 20 to be counted.
Ballots that are not received at the appropriate Elections Canada office or polling place on or before Sept. 20 will not be counted and people who requested a special ballot cannot change their mind and vote in person on election day because their names are crossed off the list of electors once the voting kit application is processed.
390 special ballots were cast in the 2015 federal election, when turnout in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski was about 58 per cent. There were 298 special ballots in 2019, when turnout dropped to about 46 per cent.
Advance voting in the riding was also up this year compared to the last two federal elections. Over 4,600 people voted at advance polls Sept. 10-13 in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski compared to a little less than 3,500 in 2019.
Between the advance polls and the special ballots, more than 5,100 votes have already been cast for the next Churchill-Keewatinook Aski Member of Parliament. that works out to about 20 per cent as many votes as were cast in advance polls, by special ballot and on election day in 2019 and 17 per cent of the 2015 total, when nearly 30,200 of the ridings residents voted.
