The City of Vancouver has announced that this October, all eligible voters can vote by mail in the upcoming civic election.
People who wish to vote by mail must apply to receive a voter package by Thursday, September 29 at 5 p.m. if they plan on having it mailed to their house or Tuesday, October 11 at 5 p.m. if they plan to pick it up from the Vancouver Election Office at West 8th Ave. The packages can be requested either through the city website or by calling 311 if you're a registered voter.
Packages will be ready for pick up starting on Tuesday, September 27 at 8:30 a.m. until Friday, October 14 at noon. The city says it will take two business days after the Election Office receives your application for your package to be ready for pick up. The office will begin mailing out the vote-by-mail packages on September 27 as well.
All voter packages come with free return postage and voters are responsible for returning their ballot on time either by mail or by dropping it off at the Election Office, Vancouver City Hall, or a designated community centre drop box.
If a ballot is received after 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, it won't be counted.
Voting in person in advance
Eligible voters can also vote in person on advance voting days or on Election Day. Advance voting is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the following days:
- Saturday, October 1;
- Wednesday, October 5;
- Saturday, October 8;
- Tuesday, October 11; and
- Thursday, October 13.
A full list of advance voting places is available here.
Election Day is on Saturday, October 15 and voting stations are open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
What are you voting on?
Voters will be asked to elect one mayor, 10 city councillors, seven park board commissioners, and nine school trustees as well as if they support the City borrowing money for three areas of major capital projects, as outlined in the 2023-2026 Capital Plan.
A multi-lingual Voters’ Guide will be available in community centres and libraries starting Thursday, September 19; it will include voting information in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Punjabi, Vietnamese, Spanish, Korean, Farsi, French, and Japanese plus candidate profiles (in English only).
