Here's how many people voted at advance polls in Waterloo region

The advance polls in Waterloo region’s major metropolitan areas have closed for in-person voting.

Thousands of voters took advantage of the advance polls, casting their votes for who they want to represent them as mayor, council members, school board trustees and in some places, regional councillors.

Advance voter turnout across Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph saw higher voter turnout compared to the 2018 municipal election.

CAMBRIDGE

In Cambridge, the city clerk reported the city saw over 1,200 curbside or walk-in advance voters during the advance voting period and received over 6,000 online votes so far.

In 2018, the city said 2,071 votes were cast during the advance poll period.

WATERLOO

The City of Waterloo reported a total of 3,981 ballots cast during advance voting.

This is more than the number of advance ballots cast in the 2018 municipal election when the city reported 2,539 ballots.

KITCHENER

The City of Kitchener has seen 5,639 ballots cast so far, which is a 3.3 per cent voter turnout. In 2018, there was only a 2.4 per cent voter turnout for the same period.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE JUMP?

Robert Williams, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Waterloo, says the early engagement is unusual at the municipal level.

“Municipal elections are notoriously low turnout events,” Williams said.

He does have some theories on what could be behind the jump.

“There are two or three things that drive voter turnout at the municipal level, and one of them that I think we tend to forget about is that if there's actually a contest and in the case of Waterloo, that's the role of the mayor – and I've found in a few other cases that when there's an election for mayor where there's no incumbent so there's really going to be a new incumbent, that can be a factor that gets people engaged,” Williams said.

SCHOOL BOARD COULD BE DRIVING ENGAGEMENT

Something else that might be bringing people to the ballot box early is controversy at the Waterloo Region District School Board.

“[The] school board is often at the bottom of the list so most people don't even get that far. But it may be that we're seeing a reverse of that – that people are very concerned about that race and that's driven them to the polls and they may start with that and work their way up,” he said.

Our CTV News cameras caught up with residents around the region who described what they think might be driving up engagement. People listed reasons such as the pandemic and how it drew issues closer to home, changes in bylaws and other issues like homelessness in the region.

Regardless of what’s getting people out to the polls, most can agree they are encouraged by the early interest.

In Wilmot Township, more than 2,500 votes have already been cast.

ADVANCE POLLS STILL OPEN IN SOME PLACES

Online and telephone voting remain open in the four townships, and there are advance polls this week in North Dumfries and Wilmot.

In Waterloo region, some cities are keeping telephone and online voting open.

GUELPH

The City of Guelph said 7,362 ballots were cast in the advance polls.

“That number reflects votes cast by mail, by home vote or during advanced polls held October 8 to 10 and 14 to 16. We’re at a 6.96 per cent turnout so far,” a city official with the City of Guelph said in an email.

The city said in 2018, a total of 5,423 advance ballots were cast, representing a 6.02 per cent turnout.