From:

To:
Date:
Subject:
s. 13(1)

"McGregor, Marnie" <Marnie.McGregor@vancouver.ca>

"Ballem, Penny" <Penny.Ballem@vancouver.ca>
11/15/2014 7:00:35 PM
Current Draft Messages on Poll Closing Times/Potential Extensions

From:
To:
Date:
Subject:

"McGregor, Marnie" <Marnie.McGregor@vancouver.ca>

Media <City.Media@vancouver.ca>
11/16/2014 12:08:00 AM
Election Day Media Report- November 15, 2014

Follow-up Media Calls November 14

Bob Weiers- CBC News Toronto - Election Results
Media outlet asking for confirmation that the online results will include a concurrent tally of the
number of Voting Divisions Reporting similar to as was done in 2011?
Yes the online results will show a tally of the number of voting locations reporting results.
Unofficial results of the 2014 Vancouver Municipal Election will begin to appear on the City of
Vancouvers website vancouver.ca/election-results after the close of voting on November 15,
2014 so media and the public can track the results. The website will show the ballot counts for
all candidates, for a total of 27 elected positions as Mayor, City Council, Park Board and School
Board, as well as voting on questions about the 2015-2018 Capital Plan. The results will be able
to be categorized and filtered by elected position as well as by voting location. The final,
official, election results will be announced by the Chief Election official no later than November
19, 2014.
Renee Bernard- News1130 Radio Election Day Rules
Reporter asking for an interview with Janice MacKenzie about the rules governing election day
for signs, campaigning, providing rides to polls etc.
Declined interview as the Chief Election Officer has an election to prepare for. Provided a copy
of the rules from Elections BC.
Media Calls November 15: Vancouver Municipal Election
Voter Location Cards
Bob Mackin Vancouver Courier
Farrah Merali CBC - News
Reporters following up on a complaint from a voters about the voting location card locations
not the nearest locations and wanted to know if this was a mistake or intentional, as result of
the supplier or Canada Post.
Statement provided from Janice MacKenzie, Chief Election Officer. A concern about the City of
Vancouver Voter Location Card addresses was brought to the Election Offices attention
yesterday. To date we have only had two enquiries about this. The Voting Location Cards were
prepared with a supplier that provides Voter Information cards for municipalities across the
country, including Vancouver. These cards were prepared using City voting locations, residential
building addresses and Canada Post postal codes to determine voting locations near the
residential address on the card - the word near was used on purpose recognizing that in some
instances, there may be some locations closer to the address.
The City has provided voters with multiple opportunities to find the most convenient voting
location for them on Saturday November 15 - the website, the Voter Guide, the Voter
Information card and by calling 3-1-1. On Election Day today, November 15, 2014, there is
extensive geographic coverage of the entire city with nearly 120 voting places, including at
community and cultural centres, churches, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Oakridge and
International Village Malls. We have seen tremendous pick-up with people taking advantage of

the additional advance voting opportunities, as well as use of the election planner tool on the
Citys website.
Jennifer Saltman- Province Voter Turnout
Reporter asking for an interview with Janice MacKenzie about the voter turn- out for today,
line-ups, the advance polls and what that means for this years numbers.
Declined interview as the Chief Election Officer has an election to run. Provided a copy of the
November 14 information bulletin about advance voting and with more voting opportunities
than ever before, and the introduction of the digital plan-your-vote tool, the City hopes that
more people than ever take the time to cast their vote, and help shape Vancouvers future. We
see that there are a lot of people voting across the city and we are making sure that everyone
knows that there are almost 120 voting locations so they can go to another nearby location
rather than waiting in line line-up. The City wont be releasing any numbers on turn-out until
the polls close.
Farrah Merali- CBC News- Voting Machine Issue at Brittania Secondary Location
Reporter hearing reports of a problem with an electronic voting machine at Brittannia
Secondary School
Election Office staff investigating the issue and will provide updates on it being fixed as soon as
possible. It was a simple matter of a ballot being jammed. When that happens the election
official pulls the tabulator slightly forward to enable the ballot to drop in the ballot box and
then puts the tabulator back in place. The ballot can become jammed because of the way the
ballot was inserted into the tabulator (e.g. pushed in fast or entered on an angle, etc).
Jennifer Saltman- Province Voting Tent at Hastings and Columbia
Reporter notified City about a post on Reddit about a tent at Hastings and Columbia paying
people to vote. The group claims to have no political affiliation. Has the Chief Election Officer
been notified and is she looking into this issue?
Yes this issue has been reported to the Election Office and as with all complaints they will look
into it.
Frances Bula- Vancouver Magazine- Early Voting Results
Reporter asking for any numbers on how many votes so far, by 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
The City wont be releasing any election results or turnout numbers until the polls close and
counting has been done tonight.
Ballot Shortages
Tiffany Crawford- Vancouver Sun
Stephanie Mercier- CBC News
Emily Jackson- Metro News
Bhinder Sajan CBC News
Bob Mackin- Vancouver Courier
Reporters hearing about voting locations across the City running out of ballots and having to
restock. How long did people have to wait?
There were only 4 voting places that ran out of ballots this afternoon - Britannia, Oakridge,
Kilarney and Hastings, between 15 and 45 minutes. Election staff are monitoring supplies at
each voting location and ballots are being directed to locations where demand is higher. There
are plenty of ballots left across the city and all ballots have been restocked at the polls that
were running low.

The 2014 Municipal Election in the City of Vancouver has had a very significant turnout in
voters. We have received a number of questions in regard to the closing of polls. The Vancouver
Charter and the City Election By-law governs these procedures. The Vancouver Charter provides
that at the close of polls (8pm) everyone that is in line either inside or outside the voting
station will be permitted to vote. The poll will close when the last person has voted, no matter
how long that takes.
The Chief Election Officer reviews all polls to assess whether there has been any adjournment
(interruption) of voting. In four voting stations today where there was a very heavy turnout,
there was a short period of time during which voters had to wait for ballots to be restocked.
The Chief Election Officer has authority to extend the voting period if there has been an
adjournment of proceedings at any voting place. In this situation, the short adjournment will be
associated with a delayed closure of 4 out of 117 polls to compensate for the adjournment.
As a result the Chief Election Officer has directed that Killarney Community Centre will remain
open a further 15 minutes to 8:15 pm, Britannia Community Centre and Oakridge Centre voting
stations will remain open a further 30 minutes to 8:30pm, and Hastings Elementary Community
School will remain open a further 45 minutes to 8:45 pm.
This will delay the communication of early unofficial results as counting of ballots cannot occur
until all the polls close.

Other Calls
Rumina Daya - Global TV - Safety at BC Place
Reporter wanted to know if the railing at BC Place is up to City bylaws following another
instance of a dog jumping to its death.
There are several requirements for guardrails under the Building Code, height is just one of
them. There are also requirements about climb-ability of guard rails and also the spacing of
any vertical members so as to not allow people or things to fall through them. Property Owners
are responsible for the guard rails and other conditions on their property. We will inspect for
compliance if a property owner obtains a permit for construction or if we become aware of an
unsafe condition. However, Terry Fox Plaza is provincially owned, and the Provincial
Government is not required to obtain City of Vancouver permits or adhere to our by-laws.

No Parks Calls

From: "McGregor, Marnie" <Marnie.McGregor@vancouver.ca>

To: "Pabillano, Jhenifer" <Jhenifer.Pabillano@vancouver.ca>
"Adcock, Jessie" <Jessie.Adcock@vancouver.ca>
"Healy, Tadhg" <Tadhg.Healy@vancouver.ca>
"Postma, Tobin" <Tobin.Postma@vancouver.ca>
Date: 11/15/2014 7:04:28 PM
Subject: FW: Current Draft Messages on Poll Closing Times/Potential Extensions
s. 13(1)

From: McGregor, Marnie

Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 7:03 PM
To: Ballem, Penny (Penny.Ballem@vancouver.ca); Connell, Francie
Cc: MacKenzie, Janice
Subject: RE: Current Draft Messages on Poll Closing Times/Potential Extensions
Importance: High
s. 13(1)

Thanks.
From: McGregor, Marnie
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 7:01 PM
To: Ballem, Penny (Penny.Ballem@vancouver.ca)
Cc: Connell, Francie; MacKenzie, Janice
Subject: Current Draft Messages on Poll Closing Times/Potential Extensions
Importance: High
s. 13(1)

From: "Ballem, Penny" <Penny.Ballem@vancouver.ca>

To: "McGregor, Marnie" <Marnie.McGregor@vancouver.ca>
"MacKenzie, Janice" <janice.mackenzie@vancouver.ca>
"Connell, Francie" <francie.connell@vancouver.ca>
"Pabillano, Jhenifer" <Jhenifer.Pabillano@vancouver.ca>
"Adcock, Jessie" <Jessie.Adcock@vancouver.ca>
"Healy, Tadhg" <Tadhg.Healy@vancouver.ca>
"Postma, Tobin" <Tobin.Postma@vancouver.ca>
Date: 11/15/2014 7:46:20 PM
Subject: Re: Information Bulletin: City of Vancouver Municipal Election Voting Location Hour Extensions
Well done all
From: McGregor, Marnie
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 07:42 PM
To: Ballem, Penny; MacKenzie, Janice; Connell, Francie; Pabillano, Jhenifer; Adcock, Jessie; Healy, Tadhg; Postma, Tobin
Subject: FW: Information Bulletin: City of Vancouver Municipal Election Voting Location Hour Extensions

Media information bulletin sent out and tweets going out momentarily.
We will be notifying all local and national media outlet bureaus about the results timing delay.
From: City of Vancouver Communications Office
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 7:41 PM
To: City of Vancouver Communications Office
Subject: Information Bulletin: City of Vancouver Municipal Election Voting Location Hour Extensions

City of Vancouver
Information Bulletin
November 15, 2014
Voting hours extended at 4 out of 117 voting locations
The 2014 Municipal Election in the City of Vancouver has had a very significant turnout in voters. We have received a number of
questions in regard to the closing of polls. The Vancouver Charter and the City Election By-law governs these procedures.
The Vancouver Charter provides that at the close of polls (8pm) everyone that is in line either inside or outside the voting station will
be permitted to vote. The poll will close when the last person has voted, no matter how long that takes.
The Chief Election Officer reviews all polls to assess whether there has been any adjournment (interruption) of voting. In four voting
stations today where there was a very heavy turnout, there was a short period of time during which voters had to wait for ballots to
be restocked. The Chief Election Officer has authority to extend the voting period if there has been an adjournment of proceedings
at any voting place.
In this situation, the short adjournment will be associated with a delayed closure of 4 out of 117 polls to compensate for the
adjournment.
As a result the Chief Election Officer has directed that Killarney Community Centre will remain open a further 15 minutes to 8:15
pm, Britannia Community Centre and Oakridge Centre voting stations will remain open a further 30 minutes to 8:30pm, and
Hastings Elementary Community School will remain open a further 45 minutes to 8:45 pm.
This will delay the communication of early unofficial results as counting of ballots cannot occur until all the polls close.
-30Media contact:
Corporate Communications
604.871.6336
media@vancouver.ca