If last week's advance poll numbers are any indication, White Rock residents may not be too bothered about the upcoming byelection to fill the spot left on council by the late Mary-Wade Anderson.

On Wednesday, voters had their first crack at voting with the advanced polls and, according to chief elections officer Tracey Arthur, 136 took advantage of the opportunity.

While there was still a second opportunity for advanced polling, Arthur was unsure if this year's advanced polling numbers would exceed that of the last byelection in 2009.

"The total in 2009 was 652 for advanced polling," said Arthur.

But whatever the reason, be it voter apathy or sheer unawareness, White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin is hoping voters will realize the importance of voting before the regular polls open on Saturday.

Baldwin said he would like to see more of White Rock's citizens take part in the process of not only voting, but finding out who would be the best person to vote for.

"I'm just afraid that the most common reasons for getting elected that way is name recognition or whoever has the most signs win and that's not a good way to elect people," he said.

A mere 16 per cent of eligible voters voted in the last White Rock byelection in 2009. Additionally, last year's municipal election drew just 30 per cent of eligible voters.

As for those who may think it isn't worthwhile voting in an election that will only decide one vote on a seven-person council, Baldwin said every vote on council is hugely important.

"The person coming in can actually have quite an effect," he said. "Of all the levels of government, we're the one that affects people on a daily basis... if you value your daily services, this is something that should matter to you."

The final opportunity for advanced polling is today (Oct. 30) at the White Rock Community Centre (15154 Russell Ave.), between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Twitter @questionchris