With civic elections happening in Surrey and other B.C. cities in less than two months, some key dates are on the calendar.
In Surrey on Saturday, Oct. 15, voters will cast ballots to elect one mayor, eight councillors and six school trustees.
For candidates, the nomination period began at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, and ends Friday, Sept. 9, at 4 p.m.
Early voting registration closed Aug. 23 to get on the city’s primary voter list “and stay informed on important election info before voting day,” according to a post on surrey.ca/2022-municipal-election, where a video helps explain things.
• READ ALSO: Three of Surrey’s 35 declared civic election candidates live outside the city.
Advance voting will be done on Oct. 5, 8, 9 and 12.
To see if you’re registered to vote on Oct. 15, visit surrey.ca/2022-municipal-election/voters/are-you-registered, or call the city’s election office, 604-591-4389.
To vote by mail, eligible voters can request a mail ballot package between Sept. 12 and Oct. 12. In order to submit a request, voters will need to upload two pieces of acceptable identification. Mail ballot packages will be delivered beginning Sept. 26, and must be received by the Chief Election Officer by 8 p.m. Oct. 15. Once registered to vote by mail, you will no longer be able to vote in person.
• RELATED, from July 21: Surrey civic election 2022 gearing up to be ‘mother of all elections’
Leading up to this year’s civic election, Surrey Board of Trade will host a series of Surrey Election Dialogue events at Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel. A School Board “dialogue” will be held there Wednesday, Sept. 14, followed by one for council candidates on Thursday, Sept. 29 and another for mayoral hopefuls on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Details are posted on businessinsurrey.com.
Elsewhere, Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce will be hosting three meetings for the election. The series kicks off Oct. 4 with the school board all-candidates meeting. An all-councillors meeting will be held Oct. 6. And the series concludes with mayoral hopefuls having their say Oct. 13. All the meetings will be held in the atrium area of KPU’s Cloverdale Campus. Details are posted to cloverdalechamber.ca.
Surrey has an “at-large” voting system where citizens elect councillors to represent the whole city. A ward system was active here from before 1879 until 1957 when it was abolished by the provincial government. The current four-year election term was introduced in 2014. More election history can be found on the city’s website.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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