Final day for advance voting in Vancouver byelection
Nearly 2,000 people have cast ballots so far; general voting day is Oct. 14
Vancouverites who won't be able to vote in Saturday's byelection for council and school board have one last early chance to cast a ballot Tuesday.
People can cast their ballots at city hall until 8 p.m.
Staff are offering accessibility aids for people with disabilities, including a sip-and-puff device, an audio system with headphones to read the ballot, and a magnification device to enlarge the ballot — services not available on general election day.
The byelection was prompted after former Vision councillor Geoff Meggs resigned to become Premier John Horgan's chief of staff.
A month later, the NDP government announced there would also be an election to replace the school board trustees who were fired by the previous B.C. Liberal government in 2016.
Nine people are running for council, while 19 people are running for the nine school trustee positions.
Who's endorsing whom?
With no mayoral candidate on the ballot — and with the majority of council candidates seen as competitive — individual endorsements are being promoted by some in the race.
Here are some of the more interesting local ones thus far:
- Diego Cardona (Vision): endorsed by environmental activist Tzeporah Berman, and Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.'s former representative for children and youth.
- Hector Bremner (NPA): endorsed by former mayor and current Vancouver-False Creek MLA Sam Sullivan and Arnedo Lucas of the Philippines Canada Trade Council.
- Pete Fry (Greens): endorsed by Bob Williams, longtime Vancity board member and former NDP MLA for Vancouver East, and Patrick Condon, urban design professor at UBC.
- Jean Swanson (independent, endorsed by COPE): supported by longtime NDP MP Libby Davies, the Vancouver Tenants Union.
- Judy Graves (OneCity): endorsed by former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen and the Vancouver District Labour Council.
- Mary Jean "Watermelon" Dunsdon (Sensible Vancouver): endorsed by former Vision park board commissioner Sarah Blyth, who co-founded Vancouver's Overdose Prevention Society and Tina Shaw, an overdose response worker at the Maple Overdose Prevention Site
Where to vote on election day?
The city will have 50 polling stations open in Vancouver on Oct. 14 for general voting day, along with one polling station at University Hill Secondary on the University Endownment Lands, where residents can only vote for school board trustees.
To vote, people must be 18 or older, a Canadian citizen and B.C. resident for at least six months and a resident of Vancouver for at least 30 days.
Citizens must also be on the Voters' List or must register at the ballot box with two pieces of identification proving residence in Vancouver or one piece of ID along with an oath of declaration.
On the first day of advance voting, a total of 1,988 ballots were cast.