The most people to cast a ballot during a local advanced vote came in the 2006 municipal election when 690 people voted in one of three pre-Election Day opportunities that year.
Both of the two advanced votes held to date this year have come close to breaking that record.
Last Saturday, 648 people voted – a 16 percent increase over the first advance vote of the 2014 election. On Wednesday, 683 citizens exercised their democratic right, which is 21 per cent higher than the previous election.
And there are three more opportunities, ahead of the Oct. 22 municipal election, to vote.
The third advanced vote opportunity goes today (Friday) from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Another advance vote day occurs Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and the final pre-Election Day opportunity is Thursday, Oct. 18 from noon until 8 p.m.
Voting in all the advance votes occurs at the Orillia City Centre at 50 Andrew St. S.
From 1985 to 2003, there were just two advanced polls in Orillia; that number increased to three in 2006 and blossomed to six in 2010.
Overall, a record number of voters took advantage of the opportunity to vote early in 2014 when 2,904 people, or 31.4 per cent of those who voted, cast ballots. The number of advance voters has expanded from 5.54 per cent in 1985 to 9.5 percent in 2000 and has grown in each subsequent election.
Despite those higher numbers, 60 per cent of eligible voters did not bother to vote in the 2014 municipal election. In that election, just 9,232 of 23,003 voters cast their ballots.
If you want to learn more about the candidates running this year or about the election in general, visit our Election Page.
