Vancouverites find voting process confusing

Factors like the number of parties and campaigning, along with Vancouver’s voting system, could all contribute to having a low voter turnout.

Political scientist Hamish Telford says this may be contributing to why voter turnout has been low and getting lower.

In the 2018 municipal election there was a 39 per cent voter turnout with over 176,000 ballots cast.

Compared with the election in 2014, this was about 5,200 less votes.

“There used to be two parties, we had a stable party system between the NPA and COPE, and [if] people didn’t know the candidates could at least pick their slate and maybe one or two independents to round things out. But now we’ve got four or five major slates going on, plus the independents, this is a lot of work for people to do,” Telford said.

Some eligible voters may decide not to cast a ballot.

“I haven’t been able to relate to any of the candidates because I don’t know who they are, I feel like they’re not really present,” one local tells CityNews.

Another local said he didn’t even know an election was taking place, “I had no idea until just now.”

Outside of B.C., people vote for a mayor, then a city councillor who would represent the area where the voter lives.

The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (TCVN) represents 22 community associations.

It says it cancelled a planned mayoral debate Monday because Ken Sim and Kennedy Stewart wouldn’t participate.

“People want to see these candidates in person, they want to see them in the flesh, they want to see how they react to questions, they want to compare them, one to another. And it’s so much better in those kind of situations than ‘go to a website and check out their CV,” said TCVN co-chair, Larry Benge.

Meanwhile, political strategists are urging people to vote, even if it feels like candidates aren’t speaking directly to them.

“When it comes to young people who are really impacted by housing, many of them don’t vote. This is their chance to impact policy, there’s a lot of reasons to be heard and to guarantee not being heard, is to not vote,” said Mike McDonald, chief strategy officer with Kirk & Company.