VANCOUVER – Polls have closed in British Columbia, and the last ballots cast in the 2019 election are now being tallied.
Many B.C. residents headed out to the polls bright and early Monday morning, joining millions of Canadians across the country choosing the nation's next government.
Polls in the Pacific time zone opened at 7 a.m., the earliest time-of-day opening in the country compared to 8:30 a.m. openings in Newfoundland and 9:30 a.m. openings in Ontario. At 7 p.m., polls closed in B.C.
Katie White was the first voter in line at Vancouver's Creekside Community Centre polling station. She told CTV News Vancouver she "needed to get to work," and decided to come early in case there was a line.
As it turned out, she beat it.
"I wanted to get in and get my vote counted," she said.
Voter Michelle Cloghesy told CTV News that getting out early "feels so good … I want to tell everyone at work that I voted and I hope they voted too."
A record 4.7 million Canadians voted early in advance polls, according to Elections Canada, but that's only a fraction of total expected voter turnout.
Vancouver resident Yvonne Dresen voted in advance polls and was displeased by some of the candidates' campaign tactics.
"There were some candidates that seemed to want to use this as an opportunity to bash other candidates, versus actually talk about what they're going to do," Dresen said. "Some of the candidates were very distasteful."
Even so, she said voting early was "so simple."
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Emad Agahi
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