2022 municipal election: Five things that showed up at Vancouver polling stations – DeathInTown

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Last Saturday saw Vancouver mayor elect Ken Sim crush his opponents — Kennedy Stewart, Colleen Hardwick and Mark Marissen.

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His total 85,732 votes were more than all his opponents combined, with thousands of votes to spare. Members of his ABC Vancouver team also took total control of council, parks board and school board.

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What’s interesting to look at now is how the votes broke down among mail-in votes, advance votes and across the 106 voting stations in Vancouver — considering this was billed as a battle between Sim in the west and Stewart on the east.

Here’s what we learned:

MAIL-IN VOTES IN-LINE WITH BALLOT VOTES

No one had an advantage in mail-in votes. Of the mailed-in votes, Sim received 3,249, Stewart 2,144, Hardwick 744 and Marissen 235. Given there were 6,682 votes mailed in for those candidates, the percentage was very close to how the overall vote ended. Fifty per cent for Sim, 30 per cent for Stewart, 11 per cent for Hardwick and 3.4 per cent for Marissen.

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SIM SURPRISES IN PARTS OF EAST VANCOUVER

Forward Together with Kennedy Stewart’s campaign team tried to paint Ken Sim as a westside boy backed by Chip Wilson and establishment money. As it turned out, both parties were backed by establishment money, but Sim did surprisingly well in some east side ballot boxes.

For example, Sim took half of all the votes cast at Hastings Community Centre, close to half at RayCam Community Centre and more than half at the Renfrew Park Community Centre.

STEWART CRUSHED IT IN MOUNT PLEASANT

There were still pockets of Vancouver where Stewart was popular. For example, at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre — where close to 5,000 advance and on the day ballots were cast — Stewart got 50 per cent of the vote, compared to Sim with 30 per cent (a reversal of the final outcome).

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Even more pronounced were the results out of the Britannia Community Centre where Stewart garnered 60 per cent of the vote compared to 17 per cent for Sim.

HARDWICK BEATS STEWART IN BIG MONEY HOODS

Ken Sim performed well on the westside, but Colleen Hardwick of TEAM Vancouver had enough support in Kitsilano, Point Grey and Kerrisdale to outperform Stewart. For example, at the Dunbar Community Centre, she received 932 advance and on the day votes to Stewart’s 782. Sim still dominated, but it did show that Hardwick likely took votes from Sim.

THERE WAS NO DIVIDE

Urban planner Andy Yan points out the big takeaway from the 2022 municipal election in Vancouver was that there was no real divide among voters. Sim absolutely dominated in all of south Vancouver, plus much of the east side, west side and parts of downtown.

“The cohesiveness of the vote for Ken Sim really stood out,” Yan said.

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