Vancouver’s municipal election scheduled for Oct. 17 of this year is estimated to cost $9.4 million, which is more than double the $4.4 million cost to run the 2022 election.

The increase in cost is largely being driven by plans to expand the number of advance voting places to cast a ballot, according to a city staff memo recently posted to the City of Vancouver’s website.

“A key cost driver is the significant expansion of advance voting, with voting places increasing from 22 over five days in 2022 to 60 over four days in 2026,” the memo said.

“Additional pressures include increased staffing levels to support both advance and election day operations and the deployment of security personnel at all voting places.”

On election day—Saturday Oct. 17—the number of voting places will increase from 82 in 2022 to 87 for 2026. So-called “supercentres” will expand from 68 to 83 to better accommodate higher turnout.

Elections staff defines supercentres as larger, well-equipped voting places that feature spacious rooms, more staff and enhanced voting technology to better accommodate a mass number of voters.

Further investments in technology have also contributed to the higher budget for the 2026 vote. The number of registration laptops will increase from 890 in 2022 to 1,546. Tabulators will increase from 213 to 381.

Staff say the new tabulators will process ballots twice as fast as in previous elections.

All the changes and additions mean a significant increase in staff.

The city’s election office plans to hire more than 2,200 workers for voting places across the city, which is an increase of nearly 78 per cent from 1,240 in the 2022 election.

For the first time, security personnel will be deployed at all voting places to assist with line management, enforce campaign-related rules and respond to incidents.

“Collectively, these changes reflect a scaled-up election model designed to accommodate increased voter participation and provide more equitable and convenient voting opportunities across the city,” the memo said.

Byelection cost $1.6M

For context, Elections BC reported spending approximately $10 million to administer provincial election operations across ridings within Vancouver in the most recent provincial election.

The $4.4 million cost to run the 2022 municipal election in Vancouver was the highest to date. The tab was $296,000 more than the final bill for the 2018 election and a $1.5-million increase over the vote in 2014, according to a city staff report from 2023.

The civic byelection held April 5, 2025 in Vancouver that saw Sean Orr of COPE and Lucy Maloney of OneCity elected to council cost $1.6 million.

The tab for the byelection was $400,000 more than the 2017 byelection, which cost $1.2 million and was held to elect one councillor and nine school trustees.

The report cited several reasons for the increase in cost in the 2025 byelection, including election workers’ wages increasing 56 per cent in the time between elections.

In response to a higher than anticipated voter turnout on the first day of advance voting, the city’s election office also had to recruit 45 additional election officials, bringing the total to 265 deployed on election day.

Long lineups

The long lineups for the 2025 byelection—which Orr, Maloney and other councillors said dissuaded many people form casting a ballot—triggered then-city manager Paul Mochrie to issue a public statement at the time.

In some cases, voters waited several hours to cast ballots.

“The extended wait times at many voting places reflected flawed planning assumptions for this byelection that informed staff decisions and the plan presented to council,” Mochrie said.

“Recognizing the effort by the city’s elections team to promote and execute this plan, it was clearly insufficient to accommodate the electorate in accessing an efficient voting process.”

Added Mochrie: “Our role is to provide a voting process that is efficient, accessible and reflective of the trust that voters and elected officials place in the civil service to support the electoral process. We will do better moving forward.”

More than 240 languages

Other plans the city’s election team has for this year’s election:

• Vote by mail will continue to be available to all eligible voters, with “application improvements underway to enhance usability and access.” Applications will open in early September. The number of ballot drop boxes across the city will increase from seven to 12.

•Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 14, mobile voting teams will support eligible voters to cast their ballots at social service centres, shelters, hospitals and care facilities that can accommodate 30 or more people.

• The “vote-at-home” program will continue, enabling eligible voters who cannot leave their homes due to illness, injury or mobility challenges to vote. A team of two election workers will visit the voter’s home to facilitate voting while maintaining privacy and ballot confidentiality.

• The election office will offer in-person voting with an assistive ballot marking device between Oct. 3 and Oct. 17 for voters with a disability, illness or injury that makes it difficult to mark a ballot independently, “and for obscured voters who prefer not to vote at a voting place due to privacy and safety concerns.” (This option is pending council’s approval of amendments to the city’s election bylaw.)

• Staff say accessibility at voting places remains a priority for the 2026 election. Site audits have been completed at all voting locations to assess accessibility features, and the findings have been used to update the city’s election webpage.

The webpage will provide details such as the most accessible entrances, curbside voting availability and locations, and parking information. The information will also be expanded to include transit directions and bike rack availability to help voters better plan their visit.

“On-site communication will be improved through clearer signage identifying priority access lines,” the memo said.

“On-demand interpretation services in more than 240 languages, including ASL, will be available at all voting locations. Curbside voting for voters who are unable to exit their vehicle due to disability or health concerns will continue to be offered at most voting places.”

New chief election officer

The city staff memo was authored by Katrina Leckovic, who was the city clerk and chief election officer at the time she wrote the memo. Business In Vancouver reported May 22 that Leckovic and deputy city clerk Tina Penney were no longer on the job.

The city did not provide an explanation for the departures.

Council has appointed city employee Jason Twa as city clerk, who will also serve as chief election officer. Andrew Aguilar, also a city employee, is the city’s new deputy city clerk.

In the 2022 election, 171,494 ballots were cast (out of a possible 472,665) for a voter turnout of 36.3 per cent. Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC colleagues won majorities on council and park board.

Sim is seeking re-election.

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