Press release no. 18 - April 7, 2014 general election - Advance polling update after Day 1 : 561 872 electors exercised their right to vote

QUÉBEC, March 31, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - At the end of the first day of advance polling held yesterday, March 30, Mr. Jacques Drouin, Chief Electoral Officer, announces that 561 872 electors exercised their right to vote to date. This total corresponds to 9,39 % of the total number of electors registered on the lists of electors prior to the special revision. It should be noted that this number of electors includes those who voted at the office of the returning officer on March 28 and 29, as well as the electors who voted at their domicile, in a residential facility, or in an educational establishment on these same days.

In comparison, 507 913 electors had taken part in advance polling at the end of the first day of advance polling in 2012, for a turnout rate of 8,61%.

The counting of the votes cast during advance polling will take place on election night, namely April 7. The vote outside the electoral division will be counted at the main office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

A table indicating the turnout rate for each electoral division of Québec at the end of the first day of advance polling is available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer at the following address: http://monvote.qc.ca/fr/taux_participation.asp, by clicking on the "Participation Rates" button on the right side of the home page.

8,583 young electors voted in their educational institutions. The highest turnouts were registered in the electoral divisions of Outremont (1,026), Jean-Talon (929), Westmount – Saint-Louis (533), Sainte-Marie – Saint-Jacques (437) and Sherbrooke (404).

Voting from this Tuesday to Thursday

Starting tomorrow, electors who would like to exercise their right to vote will be able to do so at the office of the returning officer of their electoral division. In the 125 electoral divisions, a main polling station will be open to electors. Among those, 57 electoral divisions, whose territory is vaster, more than one polling station will be open. In all, 182 polling stations will be available in the 125 electoral divisions of Québec for voting at the office of the returning officer. Furthermore, around 3,300 polling stations are open for "traditional" advance polling, which began yesterday and which is continuing today. Approximately 20,000 polling stations will receive electors on April 7.

The data on the number of electors taking part in polling at the office of the returning officer reveal that 14 413 electors exercised their right to vote there on Friday, March 28, whereas 10,476 voted on Saturday, March 29. Voting at the office of the returning officer will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow and on Wednesday. Polling stations will close at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.

It should be noted that the electors residing temporarily outside their electoral division can vote at the returning officer's office. They receive a ballot on which they indicate the name of the candidate they want to vote for in their electoral division.

The vote in the educational institutions resumes also tomorrow in the universities, cégeps, colleges, and in vocational training centres attended by at least 300 students with the right to vote.

To know the address of their polling station, electors can consult the voter's information card they received recently. They can also refer to the Chief Electoral Officer's web site at www.monvote.qc.ca or contact the Information Center at the following numbers:

1 888 ÉLECTION (1 888 353-2846) – from outside the Québec City area

[phone] or 1 800 537-0644 – TDD

SOURCE: Directeur général des élections

Denis Dion, Information officer, [phone] or 1 888 870-3320, [email protected]