City of Vancouver advance voting saw more than 103,000 ballots cast over four days at 59 voting places ahead of the Oct. 17 municipal election.
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More than 103,000 people voted in advance in Vancouver over four voting days at 59 locations ahead of the Oct. 17 municipal election, according to information shared by the city.
The turnout is up around 60 per cent from approximately 65,000 voters over five advance days in 2022, the city noted, with the number of voting places almost tripling from 22 in 2022 to 59 this year.
The city said it also continued to receive reports that visits to advance polls were quick. It noted voters can also use mail-in ballots.
Election officials also pointed to a record number of vote-by-mail requests, with more than 21,000 requests, roughly double the 10,523 received in 2022. A representative from the city’s communications department said, in an email Wednesday, that “Every voter has their own reasons for casting a ballot, and turnout can be attributed to many different factors.”
On election day, voters will cast ballots at one of 85 voting places. The polls open at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 and close at 8 p.m., and voting locations can be viewed on the city’s website.
Estimated election cost rises for 2026 ballot changes
Alongside the advance voting update, the city said it is spending an estimated $10 million on the election. A staff memo posted earlier this year estimated the cost at $9.4 million, compared with $4.4 million in 2022.
The city said the estimated cost for the 2026 election was calculated before Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC councillors added two plebiscite questions to the ballot. Staff told council the additional cost to add the questions—one related to public drug use and the other to involuntary care mental health centre—was between $400,000 and $550,000.
Vancouver’s 2025 byelection and planning review
The city’s update also referenced a previous byelection, when Vancouver voters went to the polls on April 5, 2025. That race elected Sean Orr of COPE and Lucy Maloney of OneCity, and cost $1.6 million, with long lineups reported during voting.
At the time, then-city manager Paul Mochrie said the extended wait times reflected “flawed planning assumptions” that informed staff decisions and the plan presented to council, adding that the plan was “clearly insufficient to accommodate the electorate in accessing an efficient voting process.”
According to the city’s email Wednesday, the election office focused on improving access and removing barriers so voters “can do so with ease.” The city said it added advance voting supercentres and hired more than 2,200 election workers, up nearly 78 per cent from 2022, and that election staff attended 50 community events and ran advertising campaigns promoting advance voting and voting by mail, including multicultural advertising in 11 languages. The city said data on voting place turnout would be available after the election.
Which locations drew the most advance ballots, according to OneCity
OneCity Vancouver, which is running council, school board and park board candidates in this year’s election, shared its own ballot-count analysis based on scrutineers’ observations at advance voting places. Its data identified the five busiest locations by ballots cast as Mount Pleasant Community Centre (4,603 ballots cast), Roundhouse Community Centre (3,475), Kerrisdale Community Centre (3,268), Kitsilano War Memorial Community Centre (3,063), and St. Paul’s Anglican Church (2,841).
The party also grouped Vancouver into six zones and said the Little Mountain–Kensington neighbourhoods accounted for 23.75 per cent of the total advance vote. Strathcona–Hastings–Renfrew neighbourhoods accounted for 20.59 per cent, followed by South Granville–Point Grey at 16.10 per cent. It said the West End–Yaletown area accounted for 15.43 per cent, the southwest area drew 10.68 per cent, and Langara–Fraserview finished at 13.44 per cent.
Community centres drew about 2,200 ballots each on average, while elementary schools averaged about 1,400 ballots each, according to OneCity’s data. Kit Sauder, OneCity’s fundraising chair, said the party shared the information to encourage more people to vote, adding: “So this is the story of how the vote has turned out so far, and what we're going to be doing to try and get more people to vote,” noting that many of the more than 400,000 eligible voters have yet to cast a ballot.
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