With the Vancouver city election date of Saturday, October 20 drawing ever closer, the City of Vancouver has lunched an election planner to help guide voters through the whole process.

On its website, the city encourages people to get in the know before they go (vote) by offering a step-by-step guide on what exactly is involved.

While voter turnout did increase during the last municipal election in Vancouver, the city still only saw 44% of eligible voters cast a ballot.

Now, four years later, and with less than two weeks to go until Vancouverites head to the polls, Daily Hive has put together a list of what you need to know heading into the ballot booth.

Are you eligible to vote?

While voting itself is a relatively simple and straightforward process, there are a few things to keep in mind about whether or not you legally are allowed to cast a ballot. These requirements include:

Being 18 years of age or older on election day

Being a Canadian citizen

You must have lived in BC for at least six months immediately before registering to vote, and you must have lived in the city for 30 days before registering to vote

What are you voting for?

The municipal election determines who will lead the city on a number of fronts for the next for years.

In Vancouver, this includes voting for one mayor, 10 city councillors, seven park board commissioners, and nine school trustees.

Voters will also be asked to vote on whether the city can borrow $300 million to build – or maintain – city facilities over the next four years.

Candidates on the ballot will be listed in a random order this year, not alphabetically as in previous years.

When can you vote?

While election day itself is on Saturday, October 20, advance voting is available from October 10 to 17, at 12 community centres in the city from 8 am to 8 pm.

On election day, voters can cast a ballot from 8 am to 8 pm, at over 100 locations across the city. Voters don’t need to go to any specific location to cast a vote, either on election day, or during advance voting, as any location will work.

What to bring with you

If you’ve received a voter information card in the mail, bring it with you, as that will help speed up the process. If you need to register to vote, make sure to bring with you two pieces of government-issued ID. These can include:

BC driver’s licence

BC identification card or services card

Owner’s certificate of insurance and vehicle licence issued by ICBC

BC CareCard or gold CareCard

Monthly report form for provincial social assistance

Social insurance card or a confirmation of social insurance number letter issued by the Government of Canada

Citizenship card issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada

A current property tax notice

Credit card or debit card issued by a savings institution

Utility bill issued for the supply of electricity, natural gas, water, telephone or cable services

Voters who have only one piece of ID can also swear a “declaration of identity” in front of voting staff.

Who’s all running?

According to the city, a total of 158 candidates have filed their nomination documents to run in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election next month. They are:

Mayor candidates

Maynard Aubichon

Hector Bremner (YES Vancouver Party)

Gölök Z Buday

Sean Cassidy

Ping Chan

David Chen (ProVancouver Party)

Connie Fogal (IDEA Vancouver)

Mike Hansen

Fred Harding (VANCOUVER 1st)

Sophia Cherryes Kaur Kaiser

Jason Lamarche

Katy Le Rougetel

Tim Ly

Lawrence Massey

Rollergirl

Satie Shottha

Ken Sim (NPA)

Kennedy Stewart

Shauna Sylvester

John Yano

Wai Young (Coalition Vancouver)

Council candidates (10 seats)

Kelly Alm

Brinder Bains (YES Vancouver)

Nycki Basra (VANCOUVER 1st)

Taqdir Kaur Bhandal

Rebecca Bligh (NPA)

Sarah Blyth

Christine Boyle (OneCity)

Barbara Buchanan

Diego Cardona (Vision Vancouver)

Adraine Carr (Green)

Justin Caudwell

Glynnis Chan (YES Vancouver)

Ken Charko (Coalition Vancouver)

Graham Cook

Cord “Ted” Copeland

Breton Crellin (ProVancouver)

Adrian Crook

Melissa De Genova (NPA)

Heather Deal (Vision Vancouver)

Lisa Dominato (NPA)

Hamdy El-Rayes

Catherine Evans (Vision Vancouver)

Larry Falls

Marlo Franson

Pete Fry (Green)

Hsin-Chen Fu

Justin Goodrich (NPA)

Wade Grant

David Grewal (NPA)

Colleen Hardwick (NPA)

Ashley Hughes

Jesse Johl (Vancouver 1st)

Gordon Kennedy

Abubakar Khan

Sarah Kirby-Yung (NPA)

Anastasia Koutalianos

Lisa Kristiansen (ProVancouver)

Morning Li (Coalition Vancouver)

James Lin (Coalition Vancouver)

Ken Low (Vancouver 1st)

John Malusa (Vancouver 1st)

Rob McDowell

Herschel Miedzygorski

Michelle Mollineaux (Vancouver 1st)

Penny Mussio (Coalition Vancouver)

Penny Noble

Derrick O’Keefe (COPE)

Stephanie Ostler (YES Vancouver)

Tanya Paz (Vision Vancouver)

Elishia Perosa (Vancouver 1st)

Franco Peta (Coalition Vancouver)

Elke Porter

Jojo Quimpo (NPA)

Katherine Ramdeen

Francoise Raunet

Mirza Raza (ProVancouver)

Rohana Rezel (ProVancouver)

Anne Roberts (COPE)

Erin Shum

John Spark

Spike

Jean Swanson (COPE)

Phyllis Tang (YES Vancouver)

Elizabeth Taylor (Vancouver 1st)

Jaspreet Virdi (YES Vancouver)

Michael Wiebe (Green)

David HT Wong (Green)

Jason Xie (Coalition Vancouver)

Brandon 甄念本 Yan (OneCity)

Wei Qiao Zhang (Vision Vancouver)

Vancouver Park Commissioner candidates (Seven seats)

Tricia Barker (NPA)

Pall Beesla (NPA)

Ray En-Jui Chang (Coalition Vancouver)

Ann-Marie Copping (NPA)

John Coupar (NPA)

Casey Crawford (NPA)

Victor Cuevas

Dave Demers (Green)

Camil Dumont (Green)

Greg Edgelow (ProVancouver)

Chris Fuoco (Vancouver 1st)

Jason Galloway (Coalition Vancouver)

Gwen Giesbrecht (COPE)

Ray Goldenchild (Vancouver 1st)

Jamie Lee Hamilton (IDEA Vancouver)

Margaret Haugen (IDEA Vancouver)

Leo Heba (YES Vancouver)

Rick Hurlbut (ProVancouver)

John Irwin (COPE)

Ygi Johl (Vancouver 1st)

Matthew Kagis (Work Less Party)

Stuart MacKinnon (Green)

Juan Carlos Maldonando (Coalition Vancouver)

Kathy McGarrigle (NPA)

Steven L Nemetz

Cliff Relph

Massimo Rossetti (Vancouver 1st)

Taran Kaur Sangha (Coalition Vancouver)

Shaman Shivji (Vision Vancouver)

Winnie Siu (Coalition Vancouver)

jennifer Yeung (Vancouver 1st)

Olga Zarudina (Coalition Vancouver)

Cameron Zubko (Vision Vancouver)

Vancouver School Trustee candidates (Nine seats)

Kelly Alm

Barbara Anderson (IDEA Vancouver)

Erin Arnold (Vision Vancouver)

Fraser Ballantyne (NPA)

Bruno Baronet (Vancouver 1st)

Carrie Bercic (OneCity)

Lois Chan-Pedley (Green)

Carmen Cho (NPA)

Diana Day (COPE)

Ken Denike (Coalition Vancouver)

Stephanie Descoteaux (Vancouver 1st)

Tony Dong (Vancouver 1st)

Fairnia Farrokhi

janet Fraser (Green)

Pratpal Kaur Gill (Vancouver 1st)

Estrellita Gonzalez (Green)

Nadine C Goodine (Coalition Vancouver)

Oliver Hanson (NPA)

Erica Jaaf (OneCity)

Gordon T Kennedy

Tiffin Kindrid (Pro Vancouver)

Marco Lee (Vancouver 1st)

Aaron Leung (Vision Vancouver)

Mrs. Doubtfire

Morgane Oger

Barb Parrot (COPE)

Julian Prieto (YES Vancouver)

Chris Qiu (NPA)

Jennifer Reddy (OneCity)

Christopher Richardson (NPA)

Allan Wong (Vision Vancouver)

Sophia Woo (Coalition Vancouver)

Ying Zhou (Coalition Vancouver)

More information on voting in Vancouver can be found on the city’s website.

See also