Elections B.C. has released its fifth update on the number of Metro Vancouver residents who have returned their transit plebiscite ballots.
As of April 29, during the first six weeks of voting, 29.2 per cent or 455,220 ballots were returned and counted by the elections office.
Here is a full breakdown of the returned ballot numbers to date:
- Bowen Island: 29.3% – 793 of 2,708
- City of Burnaby: 28.9% – 41,666 of 144,323
- City of Coquitlam: 30.8% – 26,662 of 86,593
- City of Langley: 21.2% – 3,708 of 17,485
- City of Maple Ridge: 32.6% – 17,714 of 54,372
- City of New Westminster: 27.9% – 12,822 of 45,8893
- City of North Vancouver: 33.1% – 11,362 of 34,320
- City of Pitt Meadows: 31.1% – 3,992 of 12,849
- City of Port Coquitlam: 30.7% – 11,899 of 38,722
- City of Port Moody: 27.1% – 6,121 of 22,549
- City of Richmond: 25.8% – 32,231 of 124,708
- City of Surrey: 28.9% – 85,357 of 295,154
- City of Vancouver: 29.5% – 123,206 of 417,349
- City of White Rock: 29.3% – 4,505 of 15,371
- Corporation of Delta: 33.7% – 23,253 of 69,000
- District of North Vancouver: 29.1% – 17,632 of 60,653
- District of West Vancouver: 23.7% – 7,139 of 30,131
- Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A: 23.5% – 1,511 of 6,440
- Township of Langley: 29.0% – 22,506 of 77,719
- Tsawwassen First Nation: 30.6% – 159 of 519
- Village of Anmore: 29.9% – 455 of 1,520
- Village of Belcarra: 39.1% – 192 of 504
- Village of Lions Bay: 31.3% – 335 of 1,072
During the first few weeks of the voting period, there was a wide gap in returned ballot rates with the city of Vancouver leading the suburban municipalities by a wide margin. However, the gap has narrowed in the sixth week of voting – some of the suburbs are now leading voter turnout.
The number of returned ballots has been steadily climbing. Last week, the elections office counted 340,605 ballots or 21.8 per cent of the total number of registered voters.
In total, nearly 1.56 million residents across the region’s 23 municipal jurisdictions are registered to vote in the plebiscite. Eligible voters who have not received their ballots in the mail have until May 15 to register to vote and request for a ballot package.
Completed ballots must be returned to Elections B.C. no later than midnight on May 29 in order to be counted. A total of nine plebiscite service offices have opened at the region’s shopping malls to assist voters with registration and ballot return.
[am2_see_also]
The ballot question asks voters to approve a 0.5 per cent regional increase in the provincial sales tax (from 7.0 to 7.5%) to help fund the Mayors’ Council’s $7.5 billion, 10-year plan for transportation improvements.
This includes an underground extension of the SkyTrain Millennium Line along Broadway, a light rail transit network in Surrey, a new seismically safe Pattullo Bridge, improved night bus service, the use of a third SeaBus and a significant increase in bus network frequency, including the introduction of 11 new B-Line rapid bus routes.
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