Advance voter turnout in Vancouver high compared to last election

Vancouverites are facing a ballot crowded with over one hundred candidates, but that isn’t stopping people from showing up to vote in advance.

Compared with the last election in 2018, there’s been a significant increase in the amount of people who turned up, with lineups reported at some polling stations.

“Our turnout was just over 65,000, compared to in 2018 it was 49,000 for advance voting days,” Rosemary Hagiwara, the chief election officer at the City of Vancouver said.

“It is a big increase, and it could be [due to] a number of reasons,” she said.

Although there are fewer voting stations around the city compared with the previous election, officials say the stations are bigger, with more staff and more machines.

Hagiwara notes that one reason for the turnout could be because voters have more options, like the ability to vote by mail.

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“In the past, they had to meet certain requirements in order to qualify for a vote by mail package,” but Hagiwara says this is now an option for all voters.

Political Educator Jessica Lar-Son says she’s spoken to around two dozen candidates in short TikTok videos to help people choose who to vote for.

Her videos include asking candidates about topics like housing affordability.

“Vancouver is, as we all know, one of the least affordable places to live, and we don’t think it should be that way,” she said. “What I heard from many of the candidates that I interviewed is that they’ve seen friends and family have to leave Vancouver, and they just can’t stand it anymore.”

Lar-son says her approach at education is what she calls a “non-partisan political education,” and just like her social media video’s, people are watching this election.

Make your vote count! At this time, it is too late to mail your vote by mail ballot. Instead, please drop it off at a ballot drop off location.

Find the full list of ballot drop off locations and deadlines https://t.co/JK6bYkLguH#VancouverVotes#VanElection2022 pic.twitter.com/0Pxom2wMKi

— City of Vancouver (@CityofVancouver) October 15, 2022

“I think people are a little bit more tuned in and getting out to the advanced polls, and hopefully that means they’re going to get out to the general election day polls, even more than the advance,” Lar-Son said.

In addition to voting in person, the City of Vancouver says that they issued over 10,000 mail-in voting packages.

About 3,700 votes have come in by mail as of Thursday night — about double the amount compared with 2018. The city says that more votes are still on the way.

Lar-Son is hopeful that these numbers will be a positive indicator for Saturday’s voter turnout.

“I think it’s really important that people just get out and vote to show our municipal government that we are here, we are listening, we do care about these things. And no matter who we elect, we’re going to hold them accountable,” Lar-Son said.

Election day across B.C. is Saturday, with polls open across the province from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.