Nearly 10 per cent of eligible Ontario voters cast ballot in advance polls

More than a million Ontarians cast their ballot during the advance voting period for the upcoming provincial election, a significant increase from the previous election in 2018.

Elections Ontario says nearly 10 per cent of eligible voters, 1,066,545, cast their ballot in the 10 days of advance polls.

This compares to 6.8 per cent of eligible voters, or 698,609 residents, in 2018. However, advance polls were only open for five days during the previous election.

“The only numbers that I’m looking at are the 15 million people who live here in Ontario,” says Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, speaking in Toronto on Monday morning.

Del Duca commented on the opportunity that still lies ahead in the final week of the campaign, with 90 per cent of prospective voters yet to have cast their ballot.

“I think all of life is an opportunity,” he says. “This is why we have election campaigns, so we can have the conversation.”

Most polls ahead of the June 2 vote favour PC leader Doug Ford and point toward another majority win for the conservatives, with Del Duca’s Liberals and Andrea Horwath’s NDP trailing behind.

Ford is in Ottawa on Monday, his first appearance in the region since a vicious storm ripped through southern Ontario more than a week ago.

Horwath will end her day in the nation’s capital, but will first talk health care in Toronto, with a stop in Peterborough along the way.

“Get out and vote on Thursday,” said Horwath, on Monday morning. “Vote NDP and we will fix what’s broken in our health care system.”

Del Duca began his day in Toronto before heading west with campaign stops scheduled in Kitchener and Cambridge. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will focus on Toronto and Central Ontario, with appearances planned in the Caledon area, Barrie and the Simcoe region.

The advance voting period began on May 19 and ran through to May 28. The general election in Ontario is on June 2 and voting that day is between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Votes by mail will count as long as they arrive by 6 p.m. on June 2, but the deadline to request mail-in ballots has passed.

Elections Canada is encouraging voters to check the location of their election day poll by entering their postal code on elections.on.ca.

— With files from The Canadian Press