Vancouver has nothing on tiny Belcarra when it comes to voter turnout percentage so far in the TransLink funding plebiscite.
Thirty-five per cent of eligible voters in the Metro Vancouver area have sent their ballots in to be processed by Elections B.C as of today.
So far, the City of Surrey has the lowest voter turnout, with 29.9 per cent of registered voters sending back their ballots.
The Village of Belcarra, on the eastern side of Indian Arm northwest of Port Moody, has the best turnout, with 48 per cent of voting packages returned.
Belcarra mayor Ralph Drew said one possible explanation for the high turnout is that small communities tend to be more engaged.
“We’re a small community, and it’s not uncommon in small communities to have higher resident engagement,” Drew said. “People are more attuned to local government, and local government politics, so they engage.”
Drew pointed out that turnout was also extremely high in Belcarra’s civic elections, with over 70 per cent of residents voting.
The City of Vancouver has a 38 per cent voter turnout as of today. This number could change as early as Wednesday when the next set of ballot data is published.
Elections B.C. communications officer Don Main said Elections B.C. put a lot of effort into making voters aware of the plebiscite, and especially how to use a mail-in ballot.
“Information was available at each residential address. Elections B.C. sent out a pamphlet, and the pamphlet was available online in 17 languages,” Main said. He said there was also a how-to video online with instructions for first-time voters.
Voters were able to register either online or by phone, Main said. Awareness campaigns about voting, like pamphlets distributed at schools and in hospitals and nursing homes, are the responsibility of Elections B.C. to coordinate.
Each municipality also had access to materials to hand out to residents, Main said. Vancouver has mailed out over 417,000 packages to voters to date.
There are over 1.5 million registered voters, but Elections B.C. warns this number could change if more residents request ballots.
Main said it is too soon to tell how voter turnout will be overall.
“We don’t know what voter turnout is until it is all said and done,” Main said. Voters have until May 29 to mail in their ballots.
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