Vancouver city manager apologizes for “flawed planning” that resulted in lengthy delays on by-election day
Bob Mackin
On the 139th anniversary of incorporation, Vancouver’s city manager has apologized to voters, candidates and civic parties for the hours-long lineups and counting delays that marred the April 5 by-election.
In an April 6 statement, Paul Mochrie called it “unacceptable” and “deeply regrettable.” He vowed that the city will do better for the 2026 civic election.
Paul Mochrie (Vancouver Economic Commission)
“The extended wait times at many voting places reflected flawed planning assumptions for this by-election that informed staff decisions and the plan presented to council,” Mochrie said. “Recognizing the effort by the City’s elections team to promote and execute this plan, it was clearly insufficient to accommodate the electorate in accessing an efficient voting process.”
COPE’s Sean Orr (34,448 votes) and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney (33,732) were elected to serve until the next election in October 2026, after Green Adriane Carr retired and OneCity’s Christine Boyle was elected an NDP MLA. Jaime Stein (9,267) and Ralph Kaisers (8,915) of the ruling ABC Vancouver party were the lowest vote-getters among the seven, party-affiliated candidates.
The polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m., but votes were still being cast after 10 p.m. at West End Community Centre, West Point Grey Community Centre and Kitsilano Community Centre.
The city elections office said 67,962 ballots were counted, 40% more than the 48,645 in the 2017 by-election. It did not say that the 15.09% turnout rate in 2025 was slightly higher than the 10.99% from the 2017 by-election that sent Hector Bremner of the NPA to city council.
It also did not say that in 2017, voters could visit one of 50, mostly schools and more than 600 people staffed the operation with a $1.5 million budget. In January, the ABC majority city council rubber stamped a plan to spend $2 million with 265 staff spread out across 25 mostly community centres.
It was the most-chaotic civic election since 2014 when a “vote anywhere” policy was instituted to encourage a higher turnout, after years of assigning voters to the nearest school, church or community centre.
Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was re-elected for a second time and became Vancouver’s first mayor to serve a four-year term.
Voting at four of the 117 stations was extended beyond the 8 p.m. deadline after running out of ballots. Voters who lined up inside or outside voting stations by those times were allowed to vote. People with disabilities complained that they could not be accommodated at several voting stations.
Additionally, postcards mailed to downtown condo residents contained incorrect information, recommending they vote at a location outside their neighbourhood, thus potentially deterring seniors, people with mobility issues and work commitments from voting.
Third-place again
In the April 5 by-election, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver leader Colleen Hardwick recorded 17,352 votes for third place. An improvement on the 16,769 from when she finished third in the 2022 mayoral election, behind Ken Sim and Kennedy Stewart.
TEAM’s other candidate, Theodore Abbott, was fifth (11,581).
Hardwick, an NPA-elected, 2018-2022 city councillor, told supporters gathered at Simpatico on 4th that planning for the 2026 election is underway. She delivered a concession speech at 11:40 p.m. with two-thirds of the polls reporting.
She said the April 5 results showed “an overwhelming negative response to ABC, a radically mismanaged electoral process, and the success of the NDP cabal, which is off the back of the recent provincial election.”
“I don’t want to be in despair for my children and my grandchildren, but I am so worried about the future of our city at this point, folks, I really believe that what we were doing with TEAM gave us hope, hope for the future of the city,” she said. “I don’t get any hope from what I’m seeing here.”
Hardwick said she believes TEAM in 2026 “can get the people of this city to rise up and speak out for themselves, because that’s not we’re seeing, we’re seeing petty party politics playing themselves out here.
“I wasn’t looking for a job. I’m looking to try and do the right thing. I feel a strong sense of responsibility to turn this ship around,” Hardwick said.
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Bob Mackin On the 139th anniversary of incorporation,
