The District of Squamish is hoping to tempt more residents out for the municipal election this year with advanced voting, mail-in ballots and assent voting.
In the last municipal election, voter turnout in Squamish was around 47 per cent, higher than the provincial average.
“We’re hoping to be able to increase that,” said General manager Robin Arthurs.
“We watched what the province did this year with their advance voting. I think that there were really successful in capturing more people. We have a very interested community,” she said.
General local elections are held every four years, on the third Saturday in October. Arthurs said the fall date will help capture voters who travel south during the winter months.
The mail-in ballot option has a limited use; it’s focused on citizens with disabilities, illness or injury that affects their ability to vote and people who will be absent from the municipality on voting day
“People can’t just use the mail-in opportunity because they want to,” said Arthurs.
Arthurs emphasized that wrongful use of the special voting is highly illegal and any suspected abuse would be investigated by the RCMP. The consequences include $5,000 to $10,000 fines and possible barring from future elections.
Arthurs said with the election changes this year and outreach to youth in high schools, the district is hoping to achieve their strategic goal of seeing more than 50 per cent of the community comes out.
One option available to encourage voters would be to provide an “assent voting” question on the ballot, similar to a referendum, which allows voters to weigh in on a bylaw.
“I really want to see us put our minds to this and look for community input,” said Heintzman.
“It’s a great opportunity not just to increase voter turnout but to get a pulse on what’s going on, and then give the new council some tangible launching points on key issues,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman.
