Think of it as a bit of a record.
Advance polls in Conception Bay East-Bell Island attracted 551 voters over the weekend. Turns out that this a record for by-elections since 1999.
There have been a few by-elections where the advance poll attracted more than 400 voters, but for the most part, there hasn’t been a heavy advance turn-out the rest of the 21 by-elections since 1999.
Even in the Danny by-election only 333 voters cast ballots at the advance poll.
And in usually safe Conservative seats – like say Ferryland – or where the Connies are expected to win handily, the turn-out in the advance polls has usually been low. Topsail earlier this year had only 169 advance poll votes. Ferryland was 135 and Cape St. Francis was 112.
So what does it mean?
Well, it could mean that change gonna come. There’s an old political wives tale that says a heavy turn-out usually means the incumbent or the incumbent party are about to take a heavy knock or the government party is likely to lose.
But when you look at the the rests in Port de Grave, there was a heavy turn out in the advance and the incumbent party – which was also the government party – won the seat. In Exploits (2005), the government party won.
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