City cut polling places and staff for Vancouver vote defined by long waits: report

Vancouver City Hall is seen in Vancouver on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

VANCOUVER — When the City of Vancouver halved polling places and slashed election-day staffing levels by almost two-thirds in last month’s council byelection, it was done with historically low turnouts and the rise of alternative voting methods in mind, a city report on the ballot says.

But instead, election day turnout soared, as more voters were met with fewer resources to handle them.

The report by the chief election officer into the council byelection says the delays caused by a lack of capacity became a “defining aspect” of election day, which saw some voters wait more than three hours to cast their ballots.

The report to council submitted ahead of a meeting on Tuesday says the long waits came after voting places were cut from from 50 in a 2017 byelection, to 25 on April 5.

The number of election officials assigned to register voters was meanwhile cut from 416 to 150, and combined with the increased turnout, this meant each worker had to deal with more than three times as many voters than in 2017.

In April, there was an average 2,183 voters at each polling location. That represented a 149-per-cent increase from 2017 when there was an average 877 voters per polling place on election day.

“While the by-election successfully achieved many of its objectives, the Election Office acknowledges several challenges emerged due to lack of capacity to meet voter volume, most notably extended wait times at voting places, which in some instances reached up to 3.5 hours due to limited staffing and insufficient voting place capacity,” the report says.

“While these delays were not anticipated, they became a defining aspect of the 2025 by-election experience.”

Now the city is promising improvements for the general election next year including plans to increase the number and size of polling stations, better staffing and improved accessibility.

The report says byelection planning projected just under 60,000 voters and 67,962 voters ended up casting ballots, which the city said at the time was a 40-per-cent increase from 2017. The turnout was 15.1 per cent, well up from 11 per cent.

The report says each polling station had a priority line for older adults or people with disabilities but the lines did not function as intended at times because of the volume of voters.

“The length of line also contributed to challenges with identifying the location of the priority access line. Management of the priority access line is a factor in the wait times for voters in the regular queue,” the report says.

The report says there were 54,584 voters on election day, and 150 election officials registering them – a rate of 364 voters per official. In 2017, there were 43,831 election-day voters, and the rate was 105 voters per official.

Political party TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, whose candidate Colleen Hardwick lost out on a seat by about 16,000 votes, said the byelection involved widespread voter suppression

TEAM pointed to a separate report by a researcher estimating more than 33,000 people chose not to vote because of the long lines.

“There is no question that this byelection was poorly planned and discouraged thousands of Vancouver voters from exercising their democratic rights,” Hardwick said in a statement.

The Election Office issued a statement saying it “strongly rejects” the accusation of voter suppression.

“While undeniably some voting places experienced unacceptable wait times on election day, voters were provided with three voting options, including advance voting, an expanded vote by mail program, and at 25 locations on voting day, and the 2025 byelection ultimately saw the highest turnout in recent Vancouver byelection history,” the statement said.

“Staff recognize the negative impact that wait times had on the voting experience and are committed to addressing these challenges in the planning for the 2026 general election.”

Left-of-centre parties secured both council seats in the byelection, with Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC party candidates finishing in sixth and seventh place, respectively.

Sim’s party continues to have a majority on council.

The April byelection was triggered by the resignations of Christine Boyle and Adriane Carr.

This report by Ashley Joannou of The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025