Twice as many Burnaby voters turned out to the advance polls in the lead-up to the city’s 2014 municipal election, compared to 2011.
Over the course of three days, 6,976 voters cast their ballots at five locations across the city, doubling the early turnout of 2011. Additionally, the city collected 286 ballots from 18 care homes on Nov. 4, bringing the total advance votes cast to 7,262.
@colinbriggs #Burnaby advance voter turnout has doubled since 2011! We are excited for Nov 15 and the trend to continue! #bbyelxn
— City of Burnaby (@CityofBurnaby) November 13, 2014
In the last election, advance voters accounted for roughly 10 per cent of the overall vote, with 3,460 ballots out of the total of 32,953. Only 23 per cent of the 146,123 eligible Burnaby residents voted in the last election – a steady decline from its most recent peak at about 33 per cent in 2002.
In 2011, the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts was the only advance polling location across four days.
“The current location (Shadbolt Centre for the Arts) is centrally located and electors are accustomed to the use of this location; however, there is limited access via public transportation,” noted a report from the executive committee of council in September 2012.
This year, in an effort to increase voter turnout, the city upped the number of locations for advance voting locations – adding the Edmonds Community Centre, Metropolis at Metrotown, and the Brentwood and Lougheed town centres – but cut back from four days to three compared to 2011.
The city also increased its social media presence and launched an election-specific website to make the public more aware of Burnaby’s voting stations.
The city’s election office also noted that residents can vote at any of the 35 polling locations – not just their assigned location – thanks to a new electronic balloting system. Previously, residents could only vote at their designated location to mitigate plural voting.
