B.C. Municipal Election Day Live: The latest news, results and reaction

It’s general election day across B.C.

British Columbians head to the polls today beginning at 8 a.m. to vote for the mayors, councillors, and school trustees who will lead their cities for the next four years. (And in the case of Vancouver, voters will also select park board commissioners.)

Once polls close at 8 p.m., results will start to trickle in about who’s been elected and who’s out across the Lower Mainland.

Bookmark this live-blog and check back throughout the day for coverage of the day’s events, results as they come in, and dispatches from reporters stationed in municipalities across Metro Vancouver.

8 a.m.: Polls open while Vancouver reports record-high advance voter turnout

The polls are open! We won’t know until after polls close at 8 p.m. what the turnout looks like for the 2026 municipal elections. However, after the first day of advance voting on Oct. 3, the city of Vancouver announced it had seen a record-high turnout.

In the first 12 hours of opening day, a total of 21,824 voters cast their ballots for Vancouver’s next mayor, council, park board and school board. All told, more than 103,000 ballots were cast before today — a 60 per cent increase from 2022.

And Vancouver wasn’t alone. Richmond was up 141 per cent compared to the last election, with New Westminster close behind at 121 per cent and Victoria at 101 per cent. Abbotsford’s numbers jumped by 93 per cent while Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Nanaimo and Port Coquitlam were all on track to blow the old numbers out of the water.

-Stephanie Ip

sip@postmedia.com