An extra 12,202 Nova Scotians voted at advance polls than in the prior general election, according to Elections Nova Scotia.
Although the exact number wasn’t available yet, the organization reported more than 112,900 people voted by the time those polls closed on Saturday.
READ MORE: Complete Nova Scotia election coverage
In 2013, 100,698 people voted in advance.
“It’s really difficult to say whether this is the sign of a trend or not. It’s up 12,000, but keep in mind that we also went up from two days of advance voting to seven days of advance voting,” said Andy LeBlanc, a spokesperson for Elections N.S.
He added the increase may be a record.
Another change in this election was an easier way to vote in a different district for a candidate in a voter’s home district; that accounted for more than 22,000 votes.
“That’s an interesting number,” LeBlanc said.
In the prior election, 720,077 people were on the list of electors; there are now 748,633.
Nova Scotia’s population has increase between 2013 and 2016 from 943,500 to 949,500, respectively, according to Statistics Canada.
“There’s a definite increase in the voter turnout for the advance polls, even adjusted for the modest increase in population that we’ve witnessed since the 2013 provincial election,” Tom Urbaniak, a political scientist, said in a phone interview from Sydney, N.S.
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He said one cause of the increased turnout could be because Elections N.S. did a more extensive job of letting people know about advance voting options. He also said that campaign teams have been encouraging people to vote early.
“Just in case circumstances might change. There might be gaps, there might be scandals, there might be a particularly good performance in a debate by the leader of another party. You don’t want to leave it to chance if you’re a campaigner,” Urbaniak said.
The prior election’s voter turnout was 58.2 per cent. Election day is May 30.
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