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Nearly a quarter of all eligible voters across nine ridings in the Southern Interior took advantage of seven days of advance polls leading up to Saturday's provincial election.

Figures released by Elections BC show 94,211 votes were cast throughout the nine ridings. That works out to 24 per cent of the 391,870 residents registered to vote.

These numbers are vastly higher than advance polling figures from 2017, however, three years ago, there was one fewer day of advance polling available.

When you add those numbers to the 72,760 people who requested mail-in ballots, that equates to 42.6 per cent of eligible voters who have either voted or expect to prior to general voting day Saturday.

Provincewide, 19.5 per cent voted in advance polls, with that number rising to 40.3 per cent when mail-in requests are factored in.

The last time B.C. went to the polls in 2017, slightly more than 61 per cent of the population across the province voted.

Percentage-wise across the Southern Interior, voters in the South Okanagan were more likely to vote ahead of the election.

In Boundary-Similkameen, 29.5 per cent voted in advance polls, while 25.2 per cent did so in the Penticton riding.

Conversely, percentages were softer within the two Kamloops ridings, where 17.9 per cent cast ballots in Kamloops-North Thompson and 19.6 per cent in Kamloops-South Thompson.

Here is a breakdown riding-by-riding in the Southern Interior.

As of midnight Wednesday, Elections BC says more than half of all mail-in ballot packages requested had been returned.

Of the more than 724,000 ballots requested, 396,900 (55 per cent) had been returned.

This number does not include ballots currently en route through the postal system or those dropped off a district returning offices or voting places.

Elections BC has estimated it could take an additional two weeks following the election to count all the mail-in ballots to determine who will lead the province for the next four years.