Where are the past election results on the City of Vancouver website?
Earlier this year, the City of Vancouver launched its new $3-million website, which reportedly took three years of discussions and work.
At the time, the city made a big production about how a survey concluded that most people hated the old site.
I wasn't among those contacted because I would have said that it was one of the most useful government sites I've encountered.
The new one, on the other hand, regularly drives me crazy because I don't know where to find information that used to be so easy to locate.
Take election results, for example. In the past, I would go to the "departments" section on the home page, click open the city clerk page, and then go to election results. I could look up who won previous elections.
Now, there's no general "departments" section—unlike on the federal and provincial government websites.
The only election results I could find were for 2011.
I was unable to locate results for previous years. They're probably on the site—but even a search didn't yield this information. I couldn't even find them on a crib sheet that was posted to explain how to use the new site.
After about 15 minutes of searching, I sent an email to the city media-relations department, but I'm not confident that I'll receive a response on a Sunday morning.
I don't think the mayor and city council deliberately want to erase history. But I'm in a pickle because I think one of the writers made a mistake in an article, and I can't get the answer from the official source: the City of Vancouver.
My guess is that after posting this, some city official will let me know where past election results can be found on the site. And when I find out, I'll let the readers know.
Note: I just found the past election results here, but they only go back to 1996. The city also notified me immediately afterward of this link. I still can't find a list of previous mayors and councils. Help!






Phew, that was really some top notch investigative journalism I engaged in there. Now, what to do with the other 23.99 hours of my day?
Seriously Charlie, this is pretty ridiculous.
I need to know the election results going way before 2008. I want to know if four women were elected to council in 1993. I believe this is the case, but it's not apparent from my search of the city website.
Charlie Smith
COV has a commitment to being open!
Thanks for the link. I was wrong. There were five women elected to Vancouver city council in 1993: Nancy Chiavario, Jennifer Clarke, Maggie Ip, Lynne Kennedy, and Jenny Kwan.
Charlie Smith
That ensures you get great service.
Convenient obfuscation manufactured by incompetence