City of Vancouver doubles 2026 election budget to $9.4 million to expand voting | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver doubles 2026 election budget to $9.4 million to expand voting opportunities

Long snaking line at the Thunderbird Community Centre polling station for the Vancouver City Council by-election on April 5, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

Voters in Vancouver’s 2026 civic election will see a significantly expanded operation at voting locations this fall, with more polling places, a major increase in advance voting opportunities, additional accessibility measures, and a larger elections workforce with security.

This follows significant public and media criticism over the hours-long lineups voters faced during the April 2025 by-election to fill two vacant Vancouver city councillor seats.

The civic election to elect the mayor, 10 positions on Vancouver City Council, seven positions on Vancouver Park Board, and nine positions on Vancouver School Board is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.

You might also like:

The City of Vancouver’s planned expansion of voting capacity on both the civic election day and advance voting days is reflected in the increased cost of administering and operating the election, which is expected to reach $9.4 million — more than double what was spent during the last civic election four years ago. This figure does not include a contingency fund for unexpected costs.

According to City staff, this is comparable to the roughly $10 million spent by Elections BC to administer provincial general election operations within the municipal boundaries of Vancouver.

The estimated 2026 cost is up from $4.41 million for the 2022 civic election, $4.11 million for the 2018 civic election, and $2.9 million for the 2014 civic election.

A total of 171,494 ballots were cast in the 2022 civic election, representing a voter turnout rate of 36.3 per cent, which was low overall for an election but relatively high compared to other Metro Vancouver municipalities. The cost worked out to about $26 per voter.

For the April 2025 by-election, voter turnout reached 15.1 per cent, up from 10.99 per cent in the 2017 by-election to fill one vacant city councillor seat and all nine School Board trustee seats. The cost of last year’s by-election was $1.6 million, or about $24 per voter, based on the 67,962 ballots cast.

vancouver city council by-election april 1 2025 advance voting

Long lines outside Vancouver City Hall on April 1, 2025, for advance voting in the Vancouver City Council by-election. (Yvonne Hanson/Shutterstock)

Larger voting facilities, and tripling the number of advance voting locations

One of the most significant changes driving the higher operating cost is the expansion of voting locations on election day.

The City plans to increase the number of voting locations from 82 in the 2022 election to 87 in 2026, while the number of larger “supercentre” voting locations will rise from 68 to 83. According to City staff, these larger locations offer more space, staffing, and voting equipment to better accommodate a potential higher turnout.

Advance voting will also undergo a substantial overhaul. While the number of advance voting days will decrease from five in 2022 to four in 2026 — Oct. 3, 7, 10, and 13 — the number of voting locations available each day will nearly triple, increasing from 22 to 60. Total advance voting operating hours will more than double, rising from 1,320 hours in 2022 to 2,856 hours in 2026.

For the first time, schools and private facilities will be used as advance voting locations to improve geographic coverage across the city.

Advance voting participation has steadily increased in recent years and is expected to continue growing. Historically, about 84 per cent of Vancouver voters cast their ballots within one kilometre of their homes — a factor that influenced the decision to distribute advance voting opportunities more widely throughout the city.

Ever since the 2014 civic election, the City has enabled voters to cast their ballots anywhere, made possible by the use of a digital voters list.

78 per cent increase in election workers, plus security staff for all voting locations

To support the significant expansion of voting opportunities, the City will hire more than 2,200 election workers — nearly 78 per cent more than the 1,240 workers employed during the 2022 civic election. This includes additional staff for crowd management, multilingual support, accessibility assistance, and high-volume voting locations during peak periods.

There will also be significant new security costs. For the first time, security personnel will be stationed at every voting location to assist with line management, enforce campaign-related rules, and respond to any issues that arise.

To support the increased voting capacity, the City will also make major investments in technology. The number of voter registration laptops will increase from 890 in the 2022 civic election to 1,546 in 2026. The number of ballot tabulators will also rise substantially, from 213 in 2022 to 381 in 2026. Not only will there be more tabulators, but the new models will be capable of processing ballots at twice the speed of previous machines, helping improve voter flow and overall efficiency.

Additionally, vote-by-mail options will be expanded, with the number of ballot drop boxes increasing from seven to 12 across the city.

dr sun yat sen chinese garden cultural centre vancouver election voting line

A long line of Chinese seniors at an advanced voting station in Chinatown for the 2022 Vancouver civic election.

Special voting opportunities will continue for residents in hospitals, homeless shelters, social service centres, and care facilities. As well, the City’s Election Office is seeking to offer in-person voting at its office on select days using an assistive ballot-marking device for people with disabilities, illnesses, or injuries that make it difficult to mark a ballot independently.

With under four months to go before the civic election, this is already shaping up to be a crowded race, with mayoral, city councillor, Park Board commissioner, and School Board trustee candidates expected from ABC Vancouver, Vancouver Liberals, Vote Vancouver, TEAM For a Livable Vancouver, OneCity Vancouver, Green Party of Vancouver, and the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE).

The left-wing/progressive parties of OneCity, Green, and COPE have reached an agreement to limit the number of candidates they will run in each of the three chambers of municipal governance, and consider supporting a single mayoral candidate, which would result in two of their mayoral candidates dropping out potentially later this summer.

You might also like: