People living in the Cariboo-Prince George and Prince George Peace River-Northern Rockies ridings took full advantage of the advanced polling opportunities over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

About 13% of the eligible 84,116 voters in Cariboo-Prince George have already cast a ballot while approximately 18% of the 79,397 voters in Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies went to the polls early.

Elections Canada spokesperson, Andrea Marantz issued more numbers during an interview with MyPGNow.

“In Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, 15,341 people voted in the advanced polls and in Cariboo-Prince George 12,380 people voted early.”

Cariboo-Prince George saw an increase of 2,489 who voted early from the last federal election in 2015 while PG-Peace River-Northern Rockies saw a whopping increase of 4,443 when compared to four years ago.

In 2015, there were 10,898 people who went to the advanced polls in PG-Peace River-Northern Rockies while 9,891 residents cast an early ballot in Cariboo-PG.

Marantz believes the advanced polling options are appealing.

“Canadians do want these options, they want the option to be able to vote in advance and I think increasing the hours from eight to twelve hours a day also contributed to the increase as well.”

Voting is open from 7 am to 7 pm on Monday and Marantz reminds you to bring your ID card as well as your driver’s license.