Victoria had the highest voter turnout for advance polls in British Columbia and the third-highest turnout in the country, according to Elections Canada data.
An estimated 17,501 people in the federal riding cast their ballots at advance polls that took place Friday through Monday.
The biggest turnouts came in the Ottawa ridings of Orleans and Ottawa Centre, with 18,741 and 18,751 estimated advance voters, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Island ridings of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke and Saanich-Gulf Islands had the second and third-highest advance voter turnout in B.C.
The riding of Richmond Centre had the lowest turnout for advance polls, with an estimated 6,943 registered voters casting their ballots early.
In all, approximately 507,920 British Columbians showed up to vote early before the Oct. 19 election.
Elections Canada estimated that 3.5 million Canadians chose to vote during four days of advance polls, which is up 71 per cent from the last federal election. Only three days of advance voting took place in the 2011 federal election.
The Victoria race is expected to be a close one between incumbent NDP candidate Murray Rankin and Green Party challenger Jo-Ann Roberts.
In a twist, Liberal candidate Cheryl Thomas – who resigned from the race over self-described “insensitive statements” made on social media – remains on the ballot because her resignation came after the deadline to officially withdraw.
A full list of the estimated advance voter turnout can be found on the Elections Canada website.
