Vancouver voters face hours-long waits in line amid 50% cut in poll locations | Daily Hive

Vancouver voters face hours-long waits in line amid 50% cut in the number of by-election polling stations

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

Many Vancouver residents are facing up to hours-long waits in snaking lineups during today’s main voting day for the 2025 Vancouver City Council by-election to fill two vacant city councillor seats.

While some locations are far worse off than others, long lines appear to be common across many, if not the vast majority, of polling stations.

As of this afternoon, wait times exceeded two hours at polling stations such as Hillcrest Centre, Trout Lake Community Centre, and Britannia Community Centre, with long lines snaking out of the parks where the centres are located and spilling into the surrounding streets.

At Kitsilano Community Centre, the wait time is over three hours at the time of writing.

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Long lines began to form at many polling locations shortly after voting opened this morning, such as at Britannia Community Centre and Roundhouse Community Centre.

This was the long snaking line for the Vancouver City Council by-election polling station at West End Community Centre earlier this afternoon.

It wrapped around the block.

A common sight today at many polling stations. #vanpoli #vanelxn https://t.co/a3iJrTJhyt pic.twitter.com/Mth1wJFB2k

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) April 6, 2025

thunderbird community centre vancouver city council by-election line april 5 2025 voting election f

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

britannia community centre vancouver city council by-election april 5 2025 line

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

Voting at 25 polling locations across the city began at 8 a.m. and is scheduled to continue until 8 p.m.

The counting of votes was scheduled to begin immediately after 8 p.m. However, polls remained open well past that time due to long lines. As of just after 9 p.m., the City told Daily Hive Urbanized that 15 of the 25 polling stations were still open, with no estimated time for closure. The counting process will only begin once the last voter has cast their ballot.

But as it turns out, one of the likely major factors behind the long waits and lines is that the 25 polling stations open today represents nearly a 50 per cent reduction in polling stations compared to the civic by-election on October 14, 2017, when the municipal government established 50 locations to elect one new city councillor and nine Vancouver School Board trustees. This is also accompanied by a significant reduction in overall staffing.

Moreover, several voters reported to Daily Hive Urbanized a limited number of registration tables and few elections staff at their polling station, with voting in some cases taking place in small rooms rather than larger spaces like gymnasiums.

Locations of the 50 polling stations on the main civic by-election voting day of October 14, 2017:

vancouver 2017 by-election voting station map

Map of the 50 voting locations for the Vancouver City Council by-election on Saturday, October 14, 2017. (City of Vancouver)

Locations of the 25 polling stations on the main civic by-election voting day of April 5, 2025:

Vancouver by-election voting locations map 2025

Map of the 25 voting locations for the Vancouver City Council by-election on Saturday, April 5, 2025. (City of Vancouver)

“It was a frustrating experience, they obviously didn’t have enough staff and one of the staff commented they had to add more people who were not scheduled to work,” one voter told Daily Hive Urbanized after casting their ballot at Britannia Community Centre early this morning.

The polling stations have a “priority access line” that allows individuals with diverse access needs — including older adults, people who are pregnant or have disabilities, and those with young children — to bypass the long queues.

“It’s great they prioritized seniors, people with disabilities and families, but they need to anticipate better if they cut the number of available poll locations by half,” continued the voter, who wished to remain anonymity.

The City also took a different approach this year in selecting polling station venues.

In today’s by-election, all 25 polling stations are located in 24 community centres and Vancouver City Hall. By contrast, the October 2017 by-election utilized 44 public schools, three community centres, two City facilities, and one church. Schools generally offer greater capacity, especially on weekends, when they are typically unused — unlike community centres, which often host ongoing programs and activities.

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

hillcrest community centre vancouver city council by-election line april 5 2025

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

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

Upon inquiry, the City of Vancouver’s elections office told Daily Hive Urbanized this afternoon that its operational planning was based on the historic turnout for the most recent civic by-elections.

By-elections in Vancouver are rare, with the last by-elections held in 2017, 1992, and 1985. Such elections to fill vacancies in the middle of a term generally have a lower turnout than the scheduled general civic elections, when all seats for elected office are contested.

The October 2022 general civic election saw 171,494 ballots cast, with a turnout of 36.3 per cent across 106 polling stations. In the October 2018 general civic election, 176,450 ballots were cast, with a turnout of 39.4 per cent across 133 polling stations.

In contrast, the October 2017 by-election saw a total of 48,645 ballots cast, including 44,141 ballots on the main voting day. This represented a by-election turnout of just 10.99 per cent, which was well under the City’s target of a 20 per cent turnout for that vote.

For the 1992 by-election, there was a similar turnout of only 10 per cent.

However, all signs currently point to a higher turnout for today’s by-election.

“The City of Vancouver’s Elections Office appreciates Vancouverite’s commitment to participating in the By-election and the patience they are demonstrating when voting… The Election Office modelled this by-election off data from the past two by-elections, and so far, this by-election has had significantly higher voter turnout comparatively,” the City told Daily Hive Urbanized this afternoon.

“The Election Office is heartened to see the community’s commitment to participating in this democratic process, especially when by-elections have historically had low voter turnout.”

This follows record-breaking advance voting for the by-election, with a total of 7,671 ballots cast over two days at the sole advance voting location — City Hall. That included 2,876 votes on Wednesday, March 26, and 4,795 on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. This marks an 84 per cent increase compared to the advance voting period for the October 2017 by-election, which was also held over two days at City Hall. As well, it exceeds the previous record of about 2,500 ballots cast at a single voting location in any election.

As well, over 6,400 mail-in-ballots for the April 2025 by-election were requested before the deadline to receive a package, compared to the 647 requests in the October 2017 by-election, when this option for voting was restricted to certain individuals meeting specific criteria. These mail-in-ballot figures should not be confused for completed ballots that are returned to the elections office in time for the start of counting.

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)

The City told Daily Hive Urbanized that in response to the record turnout during advance voting, the City’s election office mobilized an additional 45 staff members, compared to the initial staffing projections, and deployed them to the busiest locations today.

As well, additional vote tabulator machines have been sent to the busiest locations throughout the day to increase the processing speeds.

It was also shared by the City that the election office has surplus ballots on hand.

Election planning likely also took into account the time it takes an average voter to complete a ballot. In this by-election, voters are required to fill in just two boxes for the two city councillor positions. By contrast, the 2022 election involved filling out 30 boxes — including votes for 27 candidates and responses to three plebiscite questions — while the 2017 by-election required voters to select 10 candidates for 10 elected positions.

Furthermore, voters in this by-election only had to go through a short list of 13 candidates, whereas there was a list of 28 candidates in the 2017 by-election, a list of 158 candidates in the 2018 general civic election, and a list of 137 candidates in the 2022 general civic election. Starting with the 2018 general civic election, the City also switched from the alphabetical listing of names to a randomized order in a bid to provide greater fairness to the candidates — a change that can add time for voters to complete their ballots.

vancouver election by-election i voted sticker f

“I Voted” stickers by the City of Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan)

west end community centre vancouver city council by-election april 5 2025

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

Several civic political parties have issued statements expressing disappointment in the planning of this by-election, and have urged the elections office to take immediate action to reduce queues and wait times.

“This poor planning for voting stations is demonstrably discouraging people from exercising their democratic right to vote,” said Sal Robinson, a spokesperson for the TEAM For A Livable Vancouver party, in a statement early this afternoon.

“TEAM wants the Vancouver Election Office to immediately get extra staff on hand for the remaining hours of this important election for two city councillors. It’s inexcusable for these massive lineups to be happening after the Vancouver Election Office already saw record turnouts and huge lineups in advance voting earlier. Why didn’t they add staff after that? Get any management staff from their day off to assist the democratic process immediately.”

TEAM notes that they are gathering evidence to file an official complaint over the lack of adequate staffing and resources for this by-election.

Earlier this week, the two city councillor candidates for the ABC Vancouver party raised concerns about potential issues on today’s main voting day, following problems that arose during advance voting at City Hall.

“Voters were forced to stand in a line that stretched around the block and wound through City Hall. It was a gong show. Thankfully, they put out chairs to help people cope with the wait time, but there definitely should have been more capacity and preferably more than one advance voting location. Offering multiple locations promotes fairness and ensures everyone has a reasonable opportunity to vote,” said Ralph Kaisers, a city councillor candidate for ABC.

Jaime Stein, a city councillor candidate for ABC, added, “A small, single voting location limits accessibility. I waited over an hour to vote today. Totally unacceptable.”

Civic elections are independently planned and organized by City staff. This by-election was provided with a budget of $2 million, including $740,000 to establish an election office, $150,000 for election workers, $55,000 for voting places and supplies, $40,000 for vote by mail operations, $240,000 for communications, $600,000 for voting equipment and technology, and $175,000 for a contingency fund.

For the 2017 by-election, the City spent $1.2 million — below its budget of $1.535 million. By contrast, the 2022 general civic election cost $4.4 million.

Editor’s note: This article was edited with additional information on voting continuing past 8 p.m due to the long lines.

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