Advance voting surges across Metro Vancouver ahead of municipal election

Voters turned out in record numbers for advance voting in Vancouver, one of several Metro Vancouver municipalities reporting increased early turnout ahead of Saturday’s municipal election. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /10112870A

Article content

Vancouver has posted a record turnout for advance voting, with more than 103,000 ballots cast before Saturday’s municipal election — a 60 per cent increase from the number recorded during advance polls in 2022.

Article content

The city is among several municipalities reporting strong early turnout, with Richmond, Surrey, Langley Township and Kelowna also seeing significant increases.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Preliminary figures from Vancouver has 103,810 voters casting an early ballot in this year’s election, compared with 65,127 in 2022.

Article content

Article content

Vancouver saw steadily increasing numbers over the four-day advance voting period, with 21,824 ballots cast on Oct. 3, the first day of advance voting, followed by 25,142 on Oct. 7, then 27,748 on Oct. 10, and culminating on Oct. 13 with 29,096.

Article content

The increase comes as the city expanded advance voting opportunities, from 22 voting places over five days in 2022 to 60 locations over four days this year.

Article content

The expansion comes with a higher price tag. Vancouver’s estimated budget for this year’s election is $9.4 million, more than double the 2022 cost of $4.41 million.

Article content

A city staff report identified the expansion of advance voting as a key cost driver, alongside measures such as boosting staffing levels at voting locations, hiring security personnel, and adding laptops and tabulators. Two non-binding plebiscite questions added to the ballot by the ABC-majority city council are expected to add an additional $400,000 to $550,000.

Article content

Mail-in ballot requests have also seen a significant increase. Vancouver received more than 21,000 requests for mail-in ballots this year compared with 10,523 in 2022.

Article content

Article content

Voters returning mail-in ballots must ensure that they’re received by 8 p.m. on Oct. 17. The city advised voters to use designated drop-off locations to ensure their ballots arrive in time to be counted.

Article content

Article content

Richmond, meanwhile, recorded a 141 per cent increase in advance voting compared with 2022. A total of 17,464 people cast ballots over five advance voting days on Oct. 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10, compared with 7,247 in the previous municipal election, according to the City of Richmond.

Article content

In Surrey, 26,009 ballots had been cast over the first two advance voting days, Oct. 7 and 10 — on track to surpass the total of 35,713 people who voted in advance over four days in 2022. Voters had additional opportunities to cast advance ballots on Oct. 14 and 15.

Article content

Surrey has also expanded its opportunities for advance voting, with 10 locations this year compared with six last year.

Article content

Langley Township reported a 38 per cent increase in advance ballots, with 9,876 ballots cast over five days compared with 7,128 in 2022.

Article content

Kelowna also reported an increase in early voting. Nearly 7,000 people cast ballots during the first two advance voting days compared with about 4,200 over the first two days in 2022.