More than 49,000 Royal City residents will be eligible to vote in the Nov. 19 civic election, but past experience indicates far fewer will head to the polling stations.
New Westminster residents will be casting ballots on Nov. 19 to elect one mayor, six city councillors and seven school trustees.
A staff memo presented to city council estimates the number of electors in New Westminster to be 49,012. The number is based on the 2006 census figures, as well as data relating to general population growth and building permit data and estimates.
Eric Westberg, a planning analyst for the city, stated in the memo that the province recently updated the provincial voters list for the 2011 HST referendum.
"This shows a total of 44,628 electors in the city. It is generally acknowledged that the voters' list is typically low, as persons left off the list are added later after it is published," said Westberg's memo. "This figure also seems very low considering the city's estimate (of) 45,124 electors for 2006."
After reviewing the ballots from the Nov. 15, 2008 municipal election in New Westminster, the chief election officer revealed that there were 10,092 ballots cast and 747 new registrations. At that time, there were 41,551 eligible electors on the voters' list.
