Vancouverites will head to the polls on Saturday for a pair of byelections to fill a vacant city council seat and a full slate of school board trustees.
Polls open across the city at 8 a.m., and voters have until 8 p.m. to cast their ballots.
The city is operating 51 voting places, and voters are free to cast a ballot at whichever location is most convenient.
Turnout has been light over two days of advanced voting, and the city hopes to see a 20 to 25 per cent turnout once the final ballots are cast.
Vancouver’s last civic election saw a turnout of about 43 per cent in 2014.
Where to vote
Polling stations are distributed across the city.
Voters can see a full list of polling sites and an interactive map on the City of Vancouver’s website.
Voters are free to show up at any polling place, save a station set up at the University of British Columbia which is reserved for residents of the University Endowment Lands.
Voter ID
No voter cards are being distributed in the byelection, unlike in many previous Canadian elections.
Voters who are already registered (including most people who voted in this spring’s provincial election) do not need to bring additional identification to vote.
Those who are not registered can do so on site, but will need to bring two pieces of ID.
Acceptable forms of ID include a BC Driver’s License, BC Services Card or BC ID Card, a BC Care Card, a Social Insurance Card or a Citizenship Card.
Voters can also bring a property tax notice, library card, or utility bill as a secondary piece of ID.
Candidates
There are nine candidates vying for the single empty seat on Vancouver city council.
The seat was left vacant when former Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs resigned to take a post as Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff.
They are:
- Hector Bremner (NPA)
- Diego Cardona (Vision Vancouver)
- Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon (Sensible Vancouver)
- Pete Fry (Green)
- Judy Graves (OneCity)
- Gary Lee (Independent)
- Damian Murphy (Independent)
- Jean Swanson (Independent)
- Joshua Wasilenkoff (Independent)
There are nine empty seats on the Vancouver School Board (VSB), with 19 candidates vying to fill them.
The entire VSB was left vacant last year when former education minister Mike Bernier dismissed its trustees for failing to pass a balanced budget and amid allegations of bullying and harassment following a prolonged battle over the potential closure of 11 schools.
The candidates are:
- Joy Alexander (Vision Vancouver)
- Christine Arnold (Independent)
- Fraser Ballantyne (NPA)
- Carrie Bercic (OneCity)
- Ken Clement (Vision Vancouver)
- Diana Day (COPE)
- Lisa Dominato (NPA)
- Janet Fraser (Green)
- Estrellita Gonzalez (Green)
- Jamie Lee Hamilton (IDEA Vancouver)
- Erica Jaaf (OneCity)
- Theodora Lamb (Vision Vancouver)
- Mike Lombardi (Vision Vancouver)
- Robert McDowell (NPA)
- Adi Pick (Independent)
- Julian Prieto (NPA)
- Christopher Richardson (NPA)
- Allan Wong (Vision Vancouver)
- Judy Zaichkowsky (Green)
Comments