Voters wait outside Vedder Elementary during the first day of advance voting in Chilliwack on Friday, Oct. 16. (Image Credit: Supplied to Fraser Valley Today by Barry Penner.)
CHILLIWACK – Elections BC says thousands of Chilliwack voters took advantage of the first day of advance voting opportunities yesterday for the provincial election, but Chilliwack’s advance voting participation was much smaller than one particular Abbotsford riding.
According to preliminary voter turnout data released by Elections BC, 1,242 voters out of 43,872 registered voters in the Chilliwack-Cultus Lake riding cast a ballot on Friday, Oct. 16, or 2.83 per cent of total registered voters.
Over in the Chilliwack North riding, 1,048 voters out of 41,633 registered voters cast a ballot yesterday, or 2.5 per cent of total registered voters.
The number of registered voters from Elections BC is official as of Wednesday, October 14.
In the Fraser-Nicola riding, not nearly as many people bothered to vote. Elections BC says 498 voters out of 35,043 registered voters cast a ballot, or 1.4 per cent. The Fraser-Nicola riding includes communities like Hope, Agassiz, Seabird Island, Harrison Hot Springs, Boston Bar, the Sunshine Valley, Merritt and Logan Lake.
Relative to the Chilliwack/Abbotsford area, the riding that saw the highest rate of participation was the Abbotsford-Mission riding, where 1,831 voters out of 44,439 registered voters (4.1 per cent) filled out their ballot on the first day of advance voting yesterday. That riding features former Mission mayor and MLA Pam Alexis of the NDP pitted against Darryl Kropp of the B.C. Conservatives in what could be a very close race.
In Abbotsford South, 1,383 voters out of 41,766 voters (3.3 per cent) cast a ballot, while 1,400 voters out of 38,841 registered voters (3.6 per cent) in Abbotsford West took part in advance voting.
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