There are about 152,209 eligible voters in the Sudbury and Nickel Belt ridings, and around 5,000 of those voters applied for mail-in ballots this federal election, information from Elections Canada shows.
Also called “special ballots,” voters both inside and outside Canada can choose to vote by mail-in ballot.
Elections Canada estimated that between four and five million Canadians would choose to vote by mail-in this election, but 1.3 million were actually issued, the data shows.
In Sudbury, 2,447 mail-in ballots were issued to voters. Of those, 1,761 were returned.
In Nickel Belt, 2,484 were issued, with 1,921 returned.
The counting of those ballots could take as long as five days, Elections Canada has said. This means in ridings where races are tight, there may not be any results tonight, with some ridings not declaring a winner for several days.