Advance voting turnout up in two Kamloops ridings: Elections BC

“If you don’t vote, you can’t make a change for anything,” said one resident outside of the polling station at St. Paul’s Cathedral. “You got to have your word out there, but I always go early and beat the crowds.”

Kamloops-North Thompson saw a larger increase, with 1,898 more votes cast up from the 10,563 ballots in 2024 to 12,461 in 2026.

However, those trends change when looking at other ridings in the area, where voters seemed slightly less enthusiastic to show up at advance polling.

While Salmon Arm-Shuswap had the highest advance polling turnout in the region with 13,589 ballots cast, this is still down by 473 votes when compared to the 14,062 people who voted early in 2024.

In Cariboo-Chilcotin, 8,283 voters came out to the polls this year, down by just 190 compared to 2024’s 8,473 advance voters.

Lastly, 888 fewer voters turned out in the 2026 advance polling in Fraser-Nicola, where 7,823 people voted before general voting day this year, while 8,711 turned up in 2024.

Across B.C., 891,348 people cast their ballots in advance this year, down from 953,025 two years ago in 2024.

People still have one more opportunity to vote on general voting day on Saturday (Oct. 24). Polls will be open between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., and results are expected to be released soon after.

You can find full list of final polling stations across all B.C. ridings here.

Voters are required to be Canadian citizens at least 18 years old on election day, and have been a resident of B.C. since April 23, 2026. More information about identification requirements can be found here.

A list of candidates in Kamloops Centre, Kamloops-North Thompson, Fraser-Nicola, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Salmon Arm-Shuswap can be found here.

All of CFJC’s coverage of the upcoming provincial election can be found here.

by Elora McCormack

Advance voting turnout up in two Kamloops ridings: Elections BC

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