Hamilton’s municipal candidates were sent a ward-by-ward breakdown of Hamilton’s advance voting by the City Clerk earlier today. A few candidates forwarded the email to TPR. Ward One 1883 Ward Two 1517 Ward Three 2104 Ward Four 1811 Ward Five 2340 Ward Six 2439 Ward Seven 2635 Ward Eight 1807 Ward Nine 1558 Ward Ten 2911 Ward Eleven 1745 Ward Twelve 2912 Ward Thirteen 2489 Ward Fourteen 1803 Ward Fifteen 1765 Total: 31719 This represents an increase of approximately 80 percent compared to the 2018 election when 17,052 voters cast advance ballots. The City Clerk’s memo further states that 632 vote by mail envelopes have been returned to City Hall. The total number of ballots officially cast as of Monday at 8:00 am is 32,351. The City Clerk has not publicly released the number of eligible voters for next Monday’s vote. There were 361,212 voters registered on the 2018 election list. Hamilton’s population grew by 6 percent between the 2016 and 2021 censuses. For ease of calculation, let’s presume an increase in the number of eligible voters of 5 percent during the past four years. Voter turnout, thus far, likely stands at approximately 8.5 percent. Hamilton’s elections since amalgamation have seen an average turnout of 38 percent. As I noted in a separate blog post yesterday, recent federal and provincial elections experienced record high advance voting, but record low overall turnout. Vancouver’s municipal election on Saturday reported a similar trend.