Interest in the Vancouver byelection appears to be heating up with record numbers of people voting in advance.
According to the City of Vancouver, advance voting has shattered previous records.
On the first day, voters cast 2,876 ballots, and on the second day, voters cast 4,795 ballots.
In comparison, the previous record was approximately 2,500 ballots cast at a single voting location in any election.
In total, the first two days of advance voting in this byelection has seen Vancouverites cast 7,671 ballots, an increase of 84 per cent over advance voting days in 2017.
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This time around, the Election Office has expanded vote by mail to all eligible voters to enhance accessibility. As a result, over 6,400 mail ballots have been requested, compared to 647 in 2017 when vote by mail was limited to individuals meeting specific criteria, according to the City of Vancouver.
Two seats on council are up for grabs, after former OneCity councillor Christine Boyle was elected as a provincial MLA and former Green councillor Adrianne Carr announced her retirement.
The outcome of the vote won’t shift the balance of power on council, where Mayor Ken Sim’s governing ABC party already holds a majority.
ABC and TEAM are each running two candidates, while the Vancouver Greens, OneCity and COPE are each running one.
Voting locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the city on election day, Saturday, April 5.
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