Monday’s federal election saw the highest voter turnout so far in the 21stt century, with Maritimers turning up in numbers higher than the national average.

Seventy three per cent of eligible Maritimers exercised their democratic right, nine percentage points above the 2011 election.

Prince Edward Island had the highest turnout in the country, with over 77 per cent. New Brunswick was close behind with 75 per cent and 71 per cent of eligible Nova Scotians came out to vote – a 10 per cent increase from 2011.

“It seemed like for a lot of people, a lot of young people, it was like this year is the time to vote,” says voter Jacob Sicheri.

Sociologist Howard Ramos says there are a number of factors that helped boost voter turnout this time around.

“Being a 78 day election, which was a longer election than other elections, it gave people time to get to know the candidates and get invested in the election,” says Ramos. “The advance polling happened on a long weekend, which allowed a lot of families to vote as a family.”

In 2011, only five per cent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 used advance polls. This year Elections Canada offered special advance polls on university campuses for the first time.

“Here at Dalhousie there was a record of 5,000 students who voted and a lot of organizations are trying to mobilize that vote,” says Ramos.

“Having polling stations in the SUB and throughout all of our campus was a really good way to get a lot of young people like myself to vote,” says voter Mitchell Hutchinson.

Much of the election campaign played out online. From political memes, to live tweeted leaders debates,

“Social media was an important factor and certainly the political parties did pay a lot of attention to advertising through social media,” says Ramos.

“I was much more aware of this election than anything in the past for sure,” says voter Bonita LeBlanc.

Many of the first-time voters CTV News spoke with said they felt compelled to be involved in the process and mentioned their desire for a change in the country.

“We're finally realizing, hey, jobs are going to be harder to find, tuition is going to keep going up, so let's actually try to fight it this time,” says voter Nicole Pickett.

“I know that there's a lot of things that can be done better with a change in government, so that's really what motivated me to vote this year,” says LeBlanc.

Ramos says the desire to not be left out of change also played a part in getting people to the polls and that voting for change made Canadians feel empowered.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Sarah Ritchie