Wednesday April 23, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
A record number of Canadian voters came out over four days of advance voting to mark their ballot across 343 ridings in the country.
Advance voting was held over the full Easter long weekend, April 18 through 21 from 9 am to 9 pm local time at every polling station. The full general election will be held on Monday April 28, 2025.
According to the preliminary figures, 7.3 million electors voted at the advance polls (about one third of eligible voters). This is an estimate. Some polls may not have reported yet.
Elections Canada says this is a 25% increase from the 5.8 million electors who voted in advance in the 2021 general election.
By the numbers:
As available on elections.ca a record number of voters cast their first votes on Friday, with 2,054,525 ballots cast, a big jump from the 1,401,010 cast on the first day of advance polls in September 2021.
- The numbers dipped slightly on Saturday and Easter Sunday with 1,659,952 and 1,466,225 votes cast, respectively.
- Even though there was a decline over the holiday weekend, including Sunday, the numbers for each day still were higher than four years ago.
- Monday saw the biggest number of voters at the polls from within the four-day advance voting opportunity.
- A total of 2,100,273 were cast, compared to the final day of advance polls in 2021 which saw 1,906,617.
- Every province and territory except Yukon saw bigger turnout numbers in 2025 than in 2021, with the most votes coming from Ontario, Quebec and BC (which saw the second-highest jump with 291,025 more valid ballots counted).
Turnout by province:
The total number of eligible voters in Canada is approximately 27,642,171 (72% of the overall population, i.e. all Canadian citizens age 18 and over)
Voter turnout during April 18 to 21, 2025 during advance voting:
- British Columbia: 1,104,151
- Alberta: 815,131
- Saskatchewan: 206,754
- Manitoba: 229,379
- Ontario: 2,792,881
- Quebec: 1,595,591
- Nova Scotia: 210,030
- New Brunswick: 202,006
- Prince Edward Island: 40,015
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 75,691
- Northwest Territories: 3,631
- Yukon: 4,748
- Nunavut: 967
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What the strong turnout:
The strong turnout is thought to be in response to the significance of this election at a time when Canada’s economy is seriously challenged during a transitional phase in response to the US trade war against Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
There could also be an element of convenience at play. The long weekend probably allowed people more time to vote (and, as it happens, to wait in line). Some lineups in the Greater Victoria area required waiting 1 hr 45 minutes to reach the ballot box.
Whether the advance voting tally indicates a stronger-than-usual overall voter turnout won’t be known until overall totals are known after election night April 28.
All ballots counted by hand:
All Elections Canada ballots are counted by hand. There are no scanners (as used in many provincial and municipal elections) and no online voting.
===== RELATED:
- Voting for candidate or party in federal election 2025 (April 20, 2025)
- Federal leaders debates, Commission failures, & advance vote surge (April 19, 2025)
- Strong turnout on first day of federal advance voting (April 18, 2025)
- NEWS SECTIONS: CANADA-NATIONAL | CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION 2025