Transit referendum: 15 per cent ballots in with Vancouver dominating turnout
Mail-in ballot returns nearly doubled in past week with Vancouver leading turnout
Vancouver voters continue to dominate turnout in the Metro Vancouver transit plebiscite, with nearly a quarter of eligible voters in that city casting ballots already, according to Elections BC.
New numbers released today show 15.1 per cent of eligible ballots across the region have been tallied by Elections BC, but so far turnout is varying widely by municipality.
Vancouver voters have returned 97,208 ballots, which is 23.4 per cent of all eligible ballots in that city.
Vancouver has the highest number and percentage of registered voters returning ballots — more than double the next closest number of votes, which come from Surrey.
CBC will update its interactive map weekly to reflect how many people in the 23 municipalities have been voting.
Don't read too much into turnout yet: pollster
It may be tempting to speculate how turnout will influence the plebiscite results, with earlier polling that suggested voters in the city of Vancouver were less opposed than others to the PST increase for transit improvements.
But Mario Canseco of the polling firm Insights West cautioned against reading too much into the numbers at this point.
"One thing we have to take into consideration is, which were the municipalities that got their ballots at the earliest stage in the plebiscite? Those were Vancouver and Surrey," he said.
"So it's understandable that those were the ballots sent first."
The ballot question is: "Do you support a new 0.5 per cent Metro Vancouver Congestion Improvement Tax, to be dedicated to the Mayors' Transportation and Transit Plan? Yes or No."
All ballots must be received by Elections BC by 8 p.m. PT on May 29, 2015 to count.
A majority of 50 per cent plus one will be considered decisive.
With files from Terry Donnelly