Voter turnout down at advance polls in Windsor and Essex

Voter turnout at advance polls in Windsor and Essex was down this year, according to Elections Ontario.

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While the riding of Essex reports the highest number of voters, with 6,724 ballots cast, the number is down 21 per cent from 2011 when 8,520 people voted.

Windsor-West saw 4,015 people vote, down from 4,366 three years ago. That represents an eight-per-cent decrease.

Windsor-Tecumseh had 3,857 voters cast ballots during advance polls. That’s down 19 per cent from the 4,778 votes in 2011.

There were 10 days of advance polls in 2011, compared with just seven this year.

Voter turnout was down across Ontario in advance polls ahead of Thursday's election.

Elections Ontario said 566,845 people cast ballots during the seven days of advance polling from May 31 through June 6.

That's a six per cent drop from the 603,785 electors who cast ballots in advance during the 2011 provincial election, which had a record low overall turnout of just 48 per cent.