Advance voting is open in the Alberta election and ballots are already being cast.
It shows how quickly campaigns are nearing the finish line.
“Our focus right now is connecting with our supporters and making sure they get to the ballot,” said Lethbridge-East UCP candidate Nathan Neudorf.
The window to secure extra votes is shrinking and Lethbridge’s frontrunning candidates say they’re continuing the efforts from the first three weeks of the campaign.
“We’re still reaching out to people,” said Cheryl Seaborn, the UCP candidate in Lethbridge-West. “We still have so many sign requests and still putting signs on people’s lawns.”
“Rob (Lethbridge-East NDP candidate Miyashiro) and I are going to continue to knock on doors,” said Lethbridge-West NDP candidate Shannon Phillips. “That’s what we’ve done so far and we’re not going to stop now.”
For Phillips, the effort includes stops elsewhere in the province.
The Lethbridge-West NDP candidate has events in Calgary, Medicine Hat, Airdrie and Red Deer this week.
One political sociologist thinks Phillips’ travel schedule shows how the NDP views her prospects in Lethbridge-West.
“Probably the NDP’s internal polling suggests Shannon Phillips is fairly comfortable and likely to win,” Trevor Harrison said.
Harrison says the party is trying to shore up votes in other areas.
Advance voting takes place the week before election day, from Tuesday, May 23 through Saturday, May 27 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
For a list of advance voting locations, visit the Alberta Elections website.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the advance poll voter count was 195,226.
“We are very pleased with the record-breaking turnout yesterday during the first day of advance voting,” said a spokesperson for Election Alberta on Wednesday.
“We anticipate welcoming somewhere between 700,000 and 1,000,000 electors during advance voting, so we are on track with our expectations.”
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