36% voter turnout in 2022 Vancouver civic election

Oct 16 2022, 2:10 pm

According to the City of Vancouver, the preliminary total voter turnout in the 2022 civic election is 36.3%.

The Chief Election Officer states of the roughly 472,663 residents who were registered to vote, about 171,494 ballots were cast.

This includes 65,026 ballots cast over the five-day advance voting period at a record high of 22 locations. The number of advance votes in 2022 represented a 33% increase over the 2018 civic election’s advance voting, which took place over eight consecutive days at 12 locations.

For 2022, the municipal government also introduced mail-in voting. Of the 9,623 mail packages that were requested and issued, 7,217 were returned.

On general civic election day, there were a total of 82 voting locations across Vancouver — down from 114 in 2018, and 117 in 2014. In 2018, the municipal government began adding homeless shelters and social service drop-in centres to its list of voting locations.

The overall 2022 civic election voter turnout is down from 2018’s turnout of 39.4% and 2014’s turnout of 43.4%, but up from 35% in 2011 and 30.8% in 2008.

One of the highest public vote turnouts in the City of Vancouver’s history was the plebiscite over the 2010 Winter Olympics bid, held in early 2003. It saw 46% of eligible voters cast a ballot, marking one of the city’s highest turnout rates. Voters approved the 2010 bid by 64%.

Earlier this year, Vancouver City Council opted not to stage a plebiscite on the potential First Nations-led bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Kenneth ChanKenneth Chan

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