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Voters lining up to cast ballots at advanced polls

At many advance polls in Central Alberta, there were more voters who cast a ballot on Thursday than there was in the entire three days during the last provincial election.

At many advance polls in Central Alberta, there were more voters who cast a ballot on Thursday than there was in the entire three days during the last provincial election.

Albertans began to line up at the advance polls on Thursday in what is likely to be one of the closest elections in four decades.

“We were busy,” said Linda McLevin, Red Deer North returning officer.

McLevin said about 400 people showed up to cast their ballot on Thursday and some were even lined up in the morning before the polls opened at 9 a.m.

The Red Deer South riding saw even more voters, approximately 630, returning officer Jim Taylor said.

“There was some lineups in the morning but people were good-natured and patient,” he said.

In Drumheller-Stettler, returning officer Doreen Nixon said that things were “absolutely crazy,” with approximately 800 people showing up.

“Usually there are a few people who show up to advance polls but nothing like this . . . we have been busting at the seams,” she said, adding she received about 30 emails on Friday from returning officers across the province.

“They were all saying the same thing, ‘We cannot handle them all,’ ” she said.

In the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding, to accommodate the 1,000 people who voted on Thursday, elections clerk Joan Hannah said they had to hire extra staff.

Turnout was also up in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, said returning officer Donna Sandberg. The riding saw roughly 750 voters at advance polling stations.

There were well over 600 voters at the advance polls in Lacombe-Ponoka on Thursday. In comparison, during the 2008 provincial election, 600 was the total number of people who cast a ballot in the advance polls in all three days.

“There were lineups for most of the day, but at the most, people were waiting for about 10 minutes,” said returning officer Margaret Devries.

A similar thing was experienced in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. Approximately 600 voters showed up to advance polls on Thursday, said elections clerk Carl Hansen.

“There was a lineup all day,” he said. “On the first day, we had the amount we had in the entire three days during the last election.”

A higher turnout at the advance polls could have something to do with the nature of the economy, said Red Deer College political science instructor David Baugh.

“One of the contributing factors to a very low voter turnout in Alberta is that people’s work requires them to be mobile, in camps, in the oilpatch and the resource sector,” he explained.

“So it could have something to do with the economy as well as an increased interest.”

But Baugh said there is nowhere for Alberta’s voter turnout to go but up.

“The last provincial election, at 40 per cent, was an all-time low and it looks like this would be an election that the Conservative dynasty is seriously being challenged.”

The advanced poll stations will be open today between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.

jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com