Half an hour before doors to polling stations opened today at 8 a.m., election volunteer Janet Hoag was ready to welcome voters at Fulford Community Elementary in Salt Spring Islands, despite the heavy rain.

"We're really excited about today," Hoag said. "At this polling station, we're expecting maybe a few thousands to show up."

Elsewhere on the Peninsula, voters braved the rain to cast their vote. 

"Isn't this great, after a dry summer, we get a lot of rain," says North Saanich resident, Dan LeBlanc. "What I hope it doesn't do is keep people from voting, which is really important."

Over at Deep Cove Elementary, election volunteers say 37 percent of residents have already voted in advance, which is why there's no more line-ups, and people are just trickling in.

The same is true at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in North Saanich and Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. 

Elections B.C. says a record number of British Columbians have already cast their ballots in advance voting before Saturday鈥檚 provincial election.

Voters were in and out without a cinch because of the new voting processes and technology that are being used to administer today's provincial election.

According to Elections B.C. networked laptops will be used to look up voters and cross them off the voters list, instead of paper lists. 

Electronic tabulators will be used to count paper ballots to facilitate faster report results after polls close tonight at 8 p.m.