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Thousands of ballots have already been cast in ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ ridings in advance of Saturday’s provincial election day.

Advance voting ended on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and according to Elections BC, which oversees and runs the vote, about a fifth of eligible local voters have already cast ballots.

Turnout was heavy at the two main local ridings, ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ and ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ East.

• ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦: 8,361 votes cast, out of 44,715 registered voters

• ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ East: 10,431 votes cast, out of registered 52,882 voters

For comparison, in the 2017 election, there were 24,225 total votes cast in total in the ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ riding, and 30,584 in ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ East. If the numbers hold, a third or more of the votes could have been cast already. Fewer than 7,000 advance votes were cast in 2017.

Abbotsford ridings also include parts of ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦, with Aldergrove now in the Abbotsford South riding, and much of northeastern ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ in the Abbotsford West riding. Those also saw heavy advance participation.

• Abbotsford South: 8,085 votes cast out of 44,896 registered voters

• Abbotsford West: 8,061 votes cast out of 39,087 registered voters.

Those numbers do not include people who requested a mail-in ballot as of the end of the day on Oct. 20.

Those numbers include:

• ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦: 8,944 ballot requests

• ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ East: 11,799 ballot requests

• Abbotsford South: 7,425 ballot requests

• Abbotsford West: 5,231 ballot requests

However, it’s unknown how many people will actually use the mail-in ballots. It’s possible to receive a mail-in ballot and simply ignore it, voting on election day or at an advance poll instead.

Just 39 people voted by mail in the ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ riding in 2017, and 71 in ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ East.

Mailed in ballots won’t be counted until Nov. 6, the day the final council by Elections BC begins.