Deadline passes for civic election candidates: Some mayors already acclaimed

WATCH: B.C. heads to the polls in civic elections on November 15 but do people care enough to vote? Asa Rehman reports.

VANCOUVER – Friday at 4 p.m. was the deadline for candidates to register for the upcoming civic election.

It appears that several mayors in B.C. have won elections by acclamation after the deadline passed.

Those communities include Armstrong, Dawson Creek, the District of North Vancouver, Delta and West Vancouver, just to name a few.

Incumbent Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore was almost acclaimed but Erin Hirvonen is now running against him.

“Part of democracy is that everybody can run and that’s a good thing,” said Moore. “But it’s challenging when you see people come out and run for council that have never been a part of your community. They don’t come to council meetings, they don’t get involved in special events, or debates about the budget or other things, and then all of a sudden they want to run for mayor or for council.”

“It’s something that I think you should be involved in your community and participating in and then you really want to take that next step of being involved in your community.”

B.C. heads to the polls Saturday, Nov. 15 (see who is running in your community here.)

Voter turnout has typically been low in the past and experts wonder if this year will be any different.

“It’s still early,” said political analyst and community activist Sandy Garossino, “to me it’s a little like midterm exams, people will get more excited as we get closer to election day, we haven’t hit Thanksgiving yet, there are some jurisdictions that don’t have a lot of action going on, and voter turnout in municipal elections in B.C. is terrible.”

WATCH: Sandy Garossino discusses the voter apathy issue on Prime with Aaron McArthur

“Much lower than other provinces and I’m not really sure why that is.”

Government at the civic level has the most impact on our everyday lives, and Garossino said mayors running unopposed is not a good thing for democracy.

“I say that, even though in a number of those jurisdictions, the mayors are obviously well supported by the public, people are happy with them, but it’s always important in the democratic process that issues get fully discussed and that when there are problems, when there are issues that really need attention, that there’s a little bit of pressure on government to be responsive,” said Garossino.

“This shows a complacency, especially at the electorate, that’s very concerning me from a democratic point of view.”

Meanwhile, there are near-record numbers of people vying to get into City Hall in Vancouver.

119 people filed their nomination documents by the deadline of four o’clock yesterday afternoon.

They are battling it out for 27 positions on council, park board, and school board.

This is the largest number of candidates in Vancouver since 2002.