Looks Like Large Turn-Outs For Opening of Advanced Polls Today

My husband and I decided to go vote today in the early polls.  In 2008, when voter turn-out was at a record low, my husband went to vote in the advanced poll in Mount-Royal where we previously lived and remembered how quickly it went for him; he was in and out in five minutes and said there was nobody.  Same for me when I went to vote on the official voting day; my neighbour and I went together and were in and out in five minutes.  Today, in Outremont, where we currently live, we expected the same as in 2008; a quick trip. We were wrong.

Long line up outside!  It seemed everybody and their pet dog in Outremont was out to vote today.   It took us over an hour to cast our ballots. It seemed that with all the bitching about waiting in line, everybody stuck around to vote.

So much for the Harpercons panicking about the advanced polling being an infringement on Passover for the Jews. Outremont is home to the largest Chassidic community in Montreal; many of them were also out to cast their ballots.

I have been hearing that the advanced polls in other parts of Canada were also packed today with over a half hour/ hour long waits.  If this is an indication of  what the turn out will be on May 2, I think we may well have a much better turn out than we did in 2008.  Let’s hope so.