2 new councillors elected in chaotic Vancouver byelection

Vancouver City Hall is seen in Vancouver, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Two fresh faces have joined Vancouver city council, according to preliminary byelection results following a chaotic day of voting on Saturday.

The official results will not be declared until Wednesday, but the initial count shows COPE’s Sean Orr and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney with landslide leads over their fellow candidates.

The City of Vancouver announced the preliminary results in a news release at 1:46 a.m. Sunday.

With all polling stations reporting, the results show Orr and Maloney with 34,448 and 33,732votes, respectively.

The third-place candidate, former city councillor and one-time mayoral hopeful Colleen Hardwick, had garnered 17,352 votes.

While Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC party failed to elect either of its two byelection candidates, it will continue to dominate council with six of 10 seats.

ABC’s Jaime Stein claimed only 9,267, while ABC’s Ralph Kaisers, president of the Vancouver Police Union, had only 8,915.

In total, 67,962 ballots were cast, representing a voter turnout of 15.09 per cent. In the 2017 byelection, turnout was 10.99 per cent.

Long lineups, frustrated voters

Many motivated voters endured hours-long lineups before casting a ballot on Saturday, in what was an unfamiliar experience for local residents.

The city’s election office confirmed there were still voters queued at three polling stations after 10 p.m., which delayed the start of the count.

“I feel like it’s a voter deterrent,” Maryanne Byrne told CTV News earlier in the day. “They’re really making it difficult.”

Byrne was among the frustrated voters who waited upwards of two hours at the Hillcrest Community Centre. Some ultimately walked away without casting a ballot.

Critics pointed out the city operated 51 polling stations during its most recent byelection in 2017, and only 25 this year. Staff confirmed there were fewer workers as well, with an average of 10 per polling station, down from 12 in 2017.

Staff recommendation

The decreased number of polling stations and electoral staff was the result of a recommendation from Vancouver’s independent election office, which councillors approved in January.

“When planning for the 2025 by-election, staff reviewed the 2017 data and found that 25 voting locations averaged fewer than 500 votes cast per location throughout the day, indicating that our resources were over-allocated relative to the turnout at those sites,” an office spokesperson told CTV News, in a statement.

The office also noted the last byelection featured races for both council and school board, with the latter meaning that UBC and University Endowment Lands residents were also eligible to vote.

In addition, increased mail-in voting interest and eligibility led staff to believe fewer polling stations would suffice, the spokesperson said.

The election office is “deeply appreciative of the patience voters have demonstrated at voting locations today,” the spokesperson added.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ian Holliday