Saskatchewan NDP candidate withdraws from race

Sandra Arias, the NDP's candidate for the federal riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster, has dropped out of the race, citing the "financial strain" of an extra-long campaign.

"It is with great disappointment and sadness that I announce my withdrawal from the 2015 federal election," Arias said in a statement on Facebook.

"Simply put, the financial strain of a historically long election has been just too much to bear for myself and my family."

Arias urged supporters to vote for the NDP candidate who will be taking her place. She was the last of the 14 NDP candidates to be nominated when the riding's nomination meeting was held Aug. 16.

Meanwhile, one commenter on Facebook said she voted in an advance poll and is upset her vote has been wasted.

"I understand that you have your own life to worry about (and of course your family trumps everything) but I take election time very seriously and now if I can't have a vote (and all of the others that voted for you)," Michelle Eisenkirch wrote.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched the election campaign on Aug. 2, setting the stage for the longest election campaign since the John A. Macdonald era. Voters go to the polls on Oct. 19.

In 2011, the Conservatives took the riding, with Gerry Ritz receiving about two-thirds of all votes cast.

Ritz is running again. The Liberal candidate is Larry Ingram.