What New West thought about voting in the municipal election

We’re getting a sense of what some folks in New West liked—and didn’t like—while participating in the municipal election last October.

It’s worth noting, however, that only 134 people filled out the survey, which was put together by staff and posted to the Be Heard New West website. Of those, four respondents said they did not vote.

The most recent election included the use of a card, personalized with each voter’s name. The cards were mailed to their address, based on information provided through Elections BC.

Of those who voted and responded to this survey, 93 people, or 69.9%, said they brought their card to their voting station. Of the 36 people who said they didn’t bring their card, the most popular reason for not doing so was that they forgot to bring it. This reason was noted by a third of those who didn’t bring their cards, but survey participants were allowed to select multiple answers. Some of the other answers included forgetting it, or not knowing that it should have been brought with them.

“We have heard anecdotal feedback that the voter’s card was useful and appreciated, and many residents brought their card with them to the polling station,” notes the report, with staff adding that the voter’s card will likely become a standard for all future local elections in the city.

Another tool that was new to this election was the voter’s guide, which was printed in English and mailed to New West households. There were also additions available online in French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Punjabi.

Seventeen people said they didn’t receive a voter’s guide in the mail, while 14 were unsure whether they did. One-hundred-and-five people accessed the guide online. Close to half of those who accessed the guides found the info useful.

As The Anchor previously reported, the cost for printing and postage alone for the voter’s guide was about $100,000. 36% of respondents said they’d like to see the guides return as-is for the next election, while 32% wanted to see a guide that was available digitally, with printed copies in city facilities like libraries and community centres.

At the time, chief election officer Jacque Killawee told us that one of the limitations around language occurred because the information from the latest census was not available. Statistics Canada recently revealed that Filipino, also called Tagalog, was the second most-spoken language in the city. Killawee noted this would be reflected in the next municipal vote, with the language to be added to the translations.

Three out of four respondents wanted to see more structured guidance for the kind of information that candidates provided; some examples included the candidate’s top three priorities, and/or their platform.

Only eight of the survey’s respondents chose to vote by mail, saying that the process was easy, somewhat easy, or neither easy nor difficult.

If you’d like to take a look at the full report, you can do so by visiting this link. 

A little more than 29% of 58,361 eligible New West residents cast a vote in the 2022 election, voting for one mayor and six councillors. Two of the elected councillors ran with the New West Progressives (NWP) slate, while the other four ran with Community First. (CF) The mayor, Patrick Johnstone, also ran with Community First, besting independent and former councillor Chuck Puchmayr and NWP candidate Ken Armstrong.

Seven school board trustees were also elected: six ran with CF, while the seventh elected ran with the NWP.

Along with the survey, there was also an online idea wall on which people were able to share ideas to create a more engaging voting process. Some of the suggestions included:

• Putting bike racks at polling stations.

• Getting rid of slates and going to a ward system.

• Webcasting debates (this was done for at least one debate, which was hosted by the New West Chamber of Commerce and Piva on Sept. 20, 2022.)

• Serving “democracy sausages,” with the respondent referring to hot dogs that are sold near polling places on election day. The practice has been used in Australia and can also be used as opportunities for groups like parent advisory committees to raise funds.