To reach and inform prospective voters, the City of Victoria has designed a smartphone app with all the info you need to get to the polls.
The free app is available for iOS and Android systems and includes candidate profiles, automatic reminders for advance and general voting days and their locations, as well as what you need to know about how to register to vote, or how to check if you’re already on the list.
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Incumbent mayor Lisa Helps now faces nine opponents after Rob Duncan announced he was withdrawing his name late last week. At current count, 29 councillors remain in the race for eight council seats.
With the free Victoria Votes app you can review candidate profiles, get reminders to your phone on advance and general voting days, check to see if you are already registered to vote & more. Available for iOS: https://t.co/DJ4AdJvYjp and Android https://t.co/VZMl6Z5Kgd #yyjvotes pic.twitter.com/vuMiN13AxG
— City of Victoria (@CityOfVictoria) October 12, 2018
Less than 40 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2014 municipal election that saw Helps edge out incumbent Dean Fortin by just 89 votes. Of the estimated 62,743 eligible voters that year, just 24,665 actually ticked ballot boxes, according to Civic Info BC.
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To date, 1,584 Victoria residents have voted early in this year’s election, up from 1,033 in 2014.
The next opportunity for advance voting is Oct. 15 where residents can vote at city hall from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. On Oct. 17, voters can cast a ballot from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the University of Victoria’s student union building.
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On election day, Oct. 20, voters have multiple polling stations available, which are listed on the app or on the City’s website Victoria.ca.
To download the app, visit the app store on your phone’s operating system or follow the link on Victoria.ca.
@kristyn_anthony
kristyn.anthony@blackpress.ca
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