Today residents throughout B.C. are heading to the polls to vote for a mayor, council, school board and other leaders in local government.
Here are 10 things Surrey residents should know before going out to vote today.
1. Who’s running
Eight candidates are running for mayor, 48 candidates are running for eight council seats and 30 candidates are running for six Surrey school trustee seats.
The eight mayoral candidates are Tom Gill (Surrey First, incumbent councillor), Pauline Greaves (Proudly Surrey), Bruce Hayne (Integrity Now, incumbent councillor), Rajesh Jayaprakash (People First Surrey), Doug McCallum (Safe Surrey Coalition), Francois Nantel (Independent), Imtiaz Popat (Progressive Sustainable Surrey) and John Wolanski (Independent).
For a full list of candidates, visit surreynowleader.com/municipal-election-a-list-of-candidates.
2. Can I vote?
Resident electors are eligible to vote if they meet the following requirements:
- Must be a registered as a resident elector for the City of Surrey
- Must be 18 years of age or older on general voting day
- A Canadian citizen
- A resident of B.C. “for at least six months immediately before the day of registration”
- A resident of the City of Surrey “for at least 30 days immediately before the day of registration”
- Not disqualified from voting by any enactment or by law
Non-resident electors, who own property in the city (residential property only), but live elsewhere in B.C. are eligible to vote if they meet the following requirements:
- Must be registered as a non-resident property elector of the City of Surrey
- Must be 18 years of age or older on general voting day
- A Canadian citizen
- A resident of British Columbia “for at least six months immediately before the day of registration”
- A registered owner of real property in the city “for at least 30 days immediately before the day of registration”
- An individual not holding the real property in trust for a corporation or any other trust
- Not entitled to register as a resident elector in the City of Surrey
- Not registered as a non-resident property elector in relation to any other parcel of real property in the City of Surrey;
- If there is more than one individual who is the registered owner, only one individual may register and vote in relation to the real property and the person doing so must have received the written consent (signed Consent Form 2-8) of the majority of individuals registered as owners of the real property
- Not disqualified from voting by any enactment or by law
3. Where to vote
The city has 57 voting locations throughout the city for Saturday, Oct. 20. All voting locations are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For a full list of voting locations, visit surrey.ca/election/voters/where-to-vote.aspx.
4. What do you need to vote?
Leading up to the election, Elections BC’s Provincial Voters List was used to create Surrey’s list of eligible voters by name and address. If people’s names appeared on the list, a voter card was mailed out to the address in late September/early October.
People need to bring their voter card and one piece of ID to vote.
To see if you’re registered, visit surrey.ca/election/voters/register-to-vote.aspx.
If you’re not pre-registered, there is the option to register at the time of voting. People will need to bring two pieces of ID “that provide evidence of your identity and place of residence.” One piece of ID must contain the voter’s signature.
5. Do you need to vote for a certain number of candidates?
People don’t have to vote for the maximum number of candidates for each seat. Residents can vote for up to eight councillors and up to six trustees, but are not required to vote for that amount.
6. New slates
New parties in the 2018 civic election are People First Surrey, Proudly Surrey, Integrity Now and Progressive Sustainable Surrey for council seats.
Several new slates have been created for the school board, including Surrey Students NOW, Proudly Surrey, and ACT Now Surrey.
7. Turnout historically low
In the last municipal election, Surrey’s voter turnout was 35.3 per cent with 101,558 ballots cast.
Anthony CapuccinelloIraci, Surrey’s chief election officer, told the Now-Leader that in 2014, a total of 11,747 ballots were cast during advance voting opportunities.
In 2014, there was a total of 287,904 people registered as electors.
8. How to check to see if lines are busy
The city’s website will have a real-time map on its website showing the estimated wait times for voters to cast their ballot. Green indicates a zero- to 15-minute wait, while red indicates a more than 45-minute wait. The map will refresh every five minutes. View the map here: surrey.ca/election/voters/where-to-vote.aspx.
9. Accessible voting
The City of Surrey provides accessible voting opportunities.
There is curbside voting for people who have difficulty entering voting locations. People can ask to receive and mark their ballot outside, but people will need to bring someone with who can advise the presiding election official that they need assistance.
For multi-language support to read or mark a ballot, the city says to bring someone with to provide assistance. Anyone assisting a voter to mark a ballot will be required to sign a declaration affirming that they will:
- Make the translation to the best of their ability
- Mark the ballot in accordance with the wishes of the elector
- Preserve the secrecy of the ballot of the elector being assisted
- Refrain from attempting in any manner to influence the elector as to how the elector should vote
The city says many of the voting stations also have multi-lingual election officials to help.
10. We’ll have full coverage election night, as well as aftermath on Sunday. Keep checking back here or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
For a full list of election stories, visit surreynowleader.com/municipal-election.
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