Voters in southeast Saskatchewan have been busy over the last few days as advanced polling swept through the country, opening up polls ahead of election day. With polls open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Friday to Monday, voters had 48 hours to get out and make a choice early.
According to Margaret Tuchscherer, Elections Canada's returning officer for the Souris-Moose Mountain area, the unofficial count for the four days sits at 12,528 votes cast at stations.
Broken down with a few of the advanced polling locations, with Estevan seeing around 3,000 votes, Weyburn around 2,800, Carlyle around 700, and Oxbow around 400.
That total is greater than the 2021 election, which came out to 9,433. Tuchscherer said elections in the southeast seem to be going up each time, likely setting a record for the area.
With so many more people headed to the polls, Tuchscherer said she feels that there's a lot more engagement this year.
"It tells us the number of things more people are getting out, getting active on voting. I think it also shows that more people are updating their information. We are down quite a bit on registrations at the event polls, which says that our lists are in better shape and people are taking the initiative."
With polling set to take place next Monday for the election, there will be 166 different locations across the southeast for people to vote at. Those will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with Tuchscherer saying your vote is guaranteed.
"As long as you are inside the door at 7:30, if the lineup is long, you will cast your ballot, but you must be in the poll by 7:30."
Anyone wanting more information on their local voting locations or other election info can head to elections.ca or call 1-866-354-7144. Tuchscherer said they've also got three southeast Saskatchewan offices, located in Whitewood, Estevan, and Assiniboia.
She encourages everyone to get out and vote so they can make their voices heard in this federal election.