City councillors have asked Vancouver staff to explore the possibility of offering accessible voting devices at more than one location in the 2026 municipal election. The devices offer multiple ways to cast a ballot in privacy through a variety of methods, including by allowing those with dexterity impairments to vote by blowing into a tube. A report that went before council Tuesday recommending a single device be made available at one location this year—the election office at 305 West 8th Ave.—was met with concern from some councillors, including Lucy Maloney and Sean Orr. “I really believe that limiting accessible voting to one location is discriminatory and should be identified as such,” Orr said during the meeting. By contrast, Toronto offers similar devices at every advance polling location, and at two locations per ward on election day. Maloney proposed an amendment asking that staff look into adding four more locations, arguing the cost would be negligible in an election with an estimated budget of $9.4 million. The city leases the accessible voting devices for $1,500 each, though staff noted there is also a cost to training workers to use them. “It’s such a small amount of money,” Maloney said. “There are something like 107,000 people living in this city that have a lifelong disability.” Only one speaker addressed the meeting, by phone, and appeared to suggest the city’s original recommendation was a form of “voter suppression.” “I think all of you could probably use more voter suppression in order to keep your jobs, and that’s all I have to say,” the speaker said. The amended report passed unanimously. ‘Completely backwards’ Jason Twa, the city’s chief election officer, said part of the rationale behind the initial recommendation was that the devices have not had much uptake in recent elections, when the city leased two of the machines at two locations. There were 10 users in 2014, two in 2018 and none in 2022. Disability advocate Gabrielle Peters balked at that logic, arguing more people would use the devices if they were more easily accessible—and calling the notion of asking voters with chronic disabilities to travel further than most residents “completely backwards.” “The duty of the elections office and the duty of the city is not to decide whether or not voting is popular,” Peters said ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. “Their decision-making is supposed to be based on making it readily available, and creating the conditions so people can vote without difficulty.” If the city doesn’t make the devices more available, Peters said it may ultimately be a matter for the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. “You should have the same right to be able to go to your local neighbourhoold polling station that your neighbour does,” Peters said. “It’s a clear-cut case of discrimination.” ‘White-glove service’ Staff noted the recommendation also more than doubles the number of days the device will be available, from five in the previous election to 12 this year, running from the first day of advance voting on Oct. 3 through Election Day on Oct. 17. “We’re attempting to expand voting opportunities,” Twa said. “We are attempting to find different ways and means to accommodate—certainly having the assisted ballot machine is one of the ways that we’re attempting to ensure that we can reach people who can’t independently mark a ballot.” During the discussion, Coun. Brian Montague also pointed to the availability of at-home voting—a service Twa said is provided only to those unable to leave their residence—as evidence the city is not discriminatory. “So if there’s a significant disability, we’re not discriminating here, we’re actually providing a pretty white-glove service to those who have a challenge getting to the voting booth,” Montague said.
