More than 200,000 New Brunswickers voted over the Easter long weekend, helping to shatter the national record for early voter turnout in the 2025 federal election.
Elections Canada reported Wednesday that 202,006 people across the province voted in advance polls, an increase of 25 per cent over the 161,199 people who voted early in 2021.
Judy Kaye says she was encouraged to see people at her polling station in Rothesay willing to wait 90 minutes or longer to cast their ballots in the federal riding of Saint John–Kennebecasis.
However, she did feel uneasy when some walked away.
“I know that just [Monday], there were probably about six to eight people that left and a couple of times I heard that this was their second time coming back,” she said.
“So you wonder, are they actually going to try a third time or is that a lost vote?”
More than 200,000 ballots were cast in New Brunswick advance polls for the April 28 federal election.
Kaye said she waited an hour and a half to vote Friday and then returned Monday to help three seniors who live in her apartment building. She said they also waited an hour and a half.
Colin Kelly said he voted Saturday morning at the legion in Norton and described it as “very active.” He thinks the high volume of early voters is a sign that people are concerned about the direction the country is going.
“This is the first year I’ve voted in the early polling,” Kelly said. “One, my schedule allowed it on a Saturday and also, this is one election where I just wanted to get it on paper as soon as possible.”
Wendy Mcleod MacKnight took her 96-year-old father-in-law to vote early in Fredericton.
“It was easy, easy, easy,” she said. “We were in and out in about 10 minutes.”
Voting in Moncton took Steven Austin about 45 minutes on Friday evening. “It seemed pretty reasonable,” he said.
For the first time, Tyson Wilcox said he voted early. He and his father went together to the fire department just outside Hampton because, he said, they both want to see change in Canada. Wilcox said the housing crisis was top of mind, as well as the rising costs of food and transportation.
Having already made up his mind “100 per cent,” Connor Savoie said he voted Monday at the Seaview Community Club in Black River.
“I want to make sure the candidate I vote for, gets in.”
Nikita Skrak voted on campus at St. Thomas University and said she had no trouble or delays.
And the process was seamless in Plaster Rock, said Cheryl Taylor, who voted there Saturday because she said she wanted it “ticked off the list.”
New Brunswick’s advanced voter turnout has been growing as a proportion of the total ballots cast.
In 2021, advance ballots accounted for 161,199 of the 397,801 total, or 40 per cent.
In 2019, it was 31 per cent and in 2015, it was 25 per cent.
Political scientist Joanna Everitt said advanced polls tell two stories.
First, she said, it’s usually people who have made up their mind early and don’t believe they’re likely to change it.
These people want to get it out of the way, she said, in case something comes up on the day of the election to stop them.
Second, the organizations that manage elections have been making it easier to vote early and people are showing an interest in voting at their convenience rather than facing the crowds they expect to show up on election day.
“I think it is increasingly going to be the norm for people to vote at returning offices or in advance polls because of this — however, this might change if the line-ups are as long or longer for the advance polls than they are during election day,” said Everitt in an email.
New Brunswickers tend to show up for federal elections with voter turnouts that are higher than the national average.
In 2021, New Brunswick’s voter turnout was 64.4 per cent.
In 2019, it was 72.1 per cent, the third highest in the country after P.E.E (74 per cent) and Saskatchewan ( 72.6 per cent) and in 2015, it was 74.4 per cent.
Everitt said this is probably influenced by factors such as age, strong partisanship, and a strong sense of voting duty.
Election day is April 28 and polls will be open 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
