Advance polls in Vancouver see a 27% increase in voter turnout
Now that advance voting has closed in Vancouver and residents who have still not cast a ballot prepare for general election day tomorrow, the city is reporting a 27% increase in advance voter turnout, compared to the last municipal election in 2014.
According to the city, over 48,000 votes were cast during the advance voting period from October 10 to 17. This is a marked increase over the 38,400 ballots that were cast last time around.
For those who have not yet cast a ballot and are planning to do so during election day tomorrow, here’s some helpful advice to make the process of exercising your democratic right as smooth and as seamless as possible.
Are you eligible to vote?
While voting itself is a relatively simple and straightforward process, there are a few things to keep in mind about whether or not you legally are allowed to cast a ballot. These requirements include:
- Being 18 years of age or older on election day
- Being a Canadian citizen
- You must have lived in BC for at least six months immediately before registering to vote, and you must have lived in the city for 30 days before registering to vote
What are you voting for?
The municipal election determines who will lead the city on a number of fronts for the next four years.
In Vancouver, this includes voting for one mayor, 10 city councillors, seven park board commissioners, and nine school trustees.
Voters will also be asked to vote on whether the city can borrow $300 million to build – or maintain – city facilities over the next four years.
Candidates on the ballot will be listed in a random order this year, not alphabetically as in previous years.
When can you vote?
While election day itself is on Saturday, October 20, advance voting is available from October 10 to 17, at 12 community centres in the city from 8 am to 8 pm.
On election day, voters can cast a ballot from 8 am to 8 pm, at over 100 locations across the city. Voters don’t need to go to any specific location to cast a vote, either on election day, or during advance voting, as any location will work.
What to bring with you
If you’ve received a voter information card in the mail, bring it with you, as that will help speed up the process. If you need to register to vote, make sure to bring with you two pieces of government-issued ID. These can include:
- BC driver’s licence
- BC identification card or services card
- Owner’s certificate of insurance and vehicle licence issued by ICBC
- BC CareCard or gold CareCard
- Monthly report form for provincial social assistance
- Social insurance card or a confirmation of social insurance number letter issued by the Government of Canada
- Citizenship card issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada
- A current property tax notice
- Credit card or debit card issued by a savings institution
- Utility bill issued for the supply of electricity, natural gas, water, telephone or cable services
*Note: Voters who have only one piece of ID can also swear a “declaration of identity” in front of voting staff.
Who’s all running?
According to the city, a total of 158 candidates have filed their nomination documents to run in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election next month. They are:
Mayor candidates
- Maynard Aubichon
- Hector Bremner (YES Vancouver Party)
- Gölök Z Buday
- Sean Cassidy
- Ping Chan
- David Chen (ProVancouver Party)
- Connie Fogal (IDEA Vancouver)
- Mike Hansen
- Fred Harding (VANCOUVER 1st)
- Sophia Cherryes Kaur Kaiser
- Jason Lamarche
- Katy Le Rougetel
- Tim Ly
- Lawrence Massey
- Rollergirl
- Satie Shottha
- Ken Sim (NPA)
- Kennedy Stewart
- Shauna Sylvester
- John Yano
- Wai Young (Coalition Vancouver)
Council candidates (10 seats)
- Kelly Alm
- Brinder Bains (YES Vancouver)
- Nycki Basra (VANCOUVER 1st)
- Taqdir Kaur Bhandal
- Rebecca Bligh (NPA)
- Sarah Blyth
- Christine Boyle (OneCity)
- Barbara Buchanan
- Diego Cardona (Vision Vancouver)
- Adraine Carr (Green)
- Justin Caudwell
- Glynnis Chan (YES Vancouver)
- Ken Charko (Coalition Vancouver)
- Graham Cook
- Cord “Ted” Copeland
- Breton Crellin (ProVancouver)
- Adrian Crook
- Melissa De Genova (NPA)
- Heather Deal (Vision Vancouver)
- Lisa Dominato (NPA)
- Hamdy El-Rayes
- Catherine Evans (Vision Vancouver)
- Larry Falls
- Marlo Franson
- Pete Fry (Green)
- Hsin-Chen Fu
- Justin Goodrich (NPA)
- Wade Grant
- David Grewal (NPA)
- Colleen Hardwick (NPA)
- Ashley Hughes
- Jesse Johl (Vancouver 1st)
- Gordon Kennedy
- Abubakar Khan
- Sarah Kirby-Yung (NPA)
- Anastasia Koutalianos
- Lisa Kristiansen (ProVancouver)
- Morning Li (Coalition Vancouver)
- James Lin (Coalition Vancouver)
- Ken Low (Vancouver 1st)
- John Malusa (Vancouver 1st)
- Rob McDowel
- Herschel Miedzygorski
- Michelle Mollineaux (Vancouver 1st)
- Penny Mussio (Coalition Vancouver)
- Penny Noble
- Derrick O’Keefe (COPE)
- Stephanie Ostler (YES Vancouver)
- Tanya Paz (Vision Vancouver)
- Elishia Perosa (Vancouver 1st)
- Franco Peta (Coalition Vancouver)
- Elke Porter
- Jojo Quimpo (NPA)
- Katherine Ramdeen
- Francoise Raunet
- Mirza Raza (ProVancouver)
- Rohana Rezel (ProVancouver)
- Anne Roberts (COPE)
- Erin Shum
- John Spark
- Spike
- Jean Swanson (COPE)
- Phyllis Tang (YES Vancouver)
- Elizabeth Taylor (Vancouver 1st)
- Jaspreet Virdi (YES Vancouver)
- Michael Wiebe (Green)
- David HT Wong (Green)
- Jason Xie (Coalition Vancouver)
- Brandon 甄念本 Yan (OneCity)
- Wei Qiao Zhang (Vision Vancouver)
Vancouver Park Commissioner candidates (Seven seats)
- Tricia Barker (NPA)
- Pall Beesla (NPA)
- Ray En-Jui Chang (Coalition Vancouver)
- Ann-Marie Copping (NPA)
- John Coupar (NPA)
- Casey Crawford (NPA)
- Victor Cuevas
- Dave Demers (Green)
- Camil Dumont (Green)
- Greg Edgelow (ProVancouver)
- Chris Fuoco (Vancouver 1st)
- Jason Galloway (Coalition Vancouver)
- Gwen Giesbrecht (COPE)
- Ray Goldenchild (Vancouver 1st)
- Jamie Lee Hamilton (IDEA Vancouver)
- Margaret Haugen (IDEA Vancouver)
- Leo Heba (YES Vancouver)
- Rick Hurlbut (ProVancouver)
- John Irwin (COPE)
- Ygi Johl (Vancouver 1st)
- Matthew Kagis (Work Less Party)
- Stuart MacKinnon (Green)
- Juan Carlos Maldonando (Coalition Vancouver)
- Kathy McGarrigle (NPA)
- Steven L Nemetz
- Cliff Relph
- Massimo Rossetti (Vancouver 1st)
- Taran Kaur Sangha (Coalition Vancouver)
- Shaman Shivji (Vision Vancouver)
- Winnie Siu (Coalition Vancouver)
- jennifer Yeung (Vancouver 1st)
- Olga Zarudina (Coalition Vancouver)
- Cameron Zubko (Vision Vancouver)
Vancouver School Trustee candidates (Nine seats)
- Kelly Alm
- Barbara Anderson (IDEA Vancouver)
- Erin Arnold (Vision Vancouver)
- Fraser Ballantyne (NPA)
- Bruno Baronet (Vancouver 1st)
- Carrie Bercic (OneCity)
- Lois Chan-Pedley (Green)
- Carmen Cho (NPA)
- Diana Day (COPE)
- Ken Denike (Coalition Vancouver)
- Stephanie Descoteaux (Vancouver 1st)
- Tony Dong (Vancouver 1st)
- Fairnia Farrokhi
- janet Fraser (Green)
- Pratpal Kaur Gill (Vancouver 1st)
- Estrellita Gonzalez (Green)
- Nadine C Goodine (Coalition Vancouver)
- Oliver Hanson (NPA)
- Erica Jaaf (OneCity)
- Gordon T Kennedy
- Tiffin Kindrid (Pro Vancouver)
- Marco Lee (Vancouver 1st)
- Aaron Leung (Vision Vancouver)
- Mrs. Doubtfire
- Morgane Oger
- Barb Parrot (COPE)
- Julian Prieto (YES Vancouver)
- Chris Qiu (NPA)
- Jennifer Reddy (OneCity)
- Christopher Richardson (NPA)
- Allan Wong (Vision Vancouver)
- Sophia Woo (Coalition Vancouver)
- Ying Zhou (Coalition Vancouver)
More information on voting in Vancouver can be found on the city’s website.