Hundreds of thousands of Manitoba voters hit the polls early, recording the highest advance voting turnout for the province since at least 1997.
Across the country, 7.3 million voters cast their ballot early over the Easter weekend. Advanced polls closed on Monday.
In Manitoba, Elections Canada said an estimated 229,379 voters took advantage of the early voting. This is a 22 per cent increase in advance voting turnout compared to the 2021 federal election.
“It’s a part of a bigger trend that we’ve seen, which is just more and more Canadians voting in advance polls,” said Malcom Bird, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg.
Advance voting in Manitoba has been steadily increasing since 1997—the earliest data immediately available online through Elections Canada.
However, Bird noted more advance voters does not necessarily mean greater voter turnout in general.
“Many people have noted that sort of overall voter turnout has been declining,” he said. “So there’s always sort of a perpetual hope that these higher advanced poll numbers will then translate into sort of overall more Canadians turning out to vote.”
In Manitoba, the past three federal elections have seen decreasing voter turnout. According to Elections Canada data, more than 65 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in 2015. By the last election in 2021, that number had dropped to 61 per cent.
Bird said we will have to wait until election day to see if Manitobans can buck the downward trend.
Canadians head to the polls on April 28, 2025.
Here is how the votes broke down in Manitoba ridings, from the highest number of votes to lowest.
- Winnipeg West: 23,889
- St. Boniface–St. Vital: 22,041
- Winnipeg South-Centre: 21,740
- Kildonan-St. Paul: 21,333
- Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman: 21,157
- Winnipeg South: 18,921
- Elmwood-Transcona: 18,042
- Provencher: 16,478
- Portage-Lisgar: 14,048
- Brandon-Souris: 12,750
- Winnipeg North: 12,475
- Riding Mountain: 12,019
- Winnipeg Centre: 11,170
- Churchill-Keewatinook Aski: 4,168
