Advance voting for Vancouver municipal election begins Nov. 5

Before the dust settles on a 21-month long race for president of the United States, eligible residents of Vancouver will have an opportunity to cast their ballots for the city’s municipal election.

Advanced polls are scheduled to open on November 5 and then 8, 10, and 12.

Vancouver residents are electing one mayor, 10 councillors, seven park board commissioners, and nine school trustees to three-year terms. Three borrowing questions are also on the ballot.

The contest for mayor of Vancouver is widely discussed as coming down to a race between the Non-Partisan Association’s Peter Ladner and Vision Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson. The Straight has however published platform statements by many lesser-known candidates, including Patrick Britten, Marc Emery, Leon Kaplan, Betty Krawczyk, Jeff Kuah, Bill Ritchie, and Scott Yee.

According to the City of Vancouver’s Web site, polls will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the following locations:

-City Hall (453 West 12th Avenue)
-Dunbar Community Centre (4747 Dunbar Street)
-Trout Lake Community Centre (3350 Victoria Drive)
-West End Community Centre (870 Denman Street)
-Sunset Community Centre (6810 Main Street)

Vancouver is divided into four “voting divisions”. To find out where you should vote, go to the City of Vancouver’s Web site and enter your address into the Voting Place Search Tool.

Voters who have still not received a “Where to Vote” card in the mail should bring two pieces of ID to a voting station.

In the past, voters could only cast their ballots early for certain reasons. Voters in the City of Vancouver no longer require a reason to vote early and anybody can do so.

For candidate information and daily election coverage, see the Straight’s municipal election Web page.