Surrey city hall, school district prepare for elections
Published 8:45 pm Monday, May 25, 2026
Surrey council approved a corporate report Monday that will pave the way for the City of Surrey to conduct school trustee elections along with council’s in October’s civic election.
Surrey residents elect a new council and school board every four years. The last one, in 2022, saw 339,640 registered voters and recorded 118,908 ballots cast with a turnout of 34.5 per cent.
Joey Brar, Surrey’s general manager of corporate services, noted in his report that under Section 37 of the School Act city councils must conduct the election of School trustees for their area.
“The City and the School District have a long-standing arrangement whereby the City conducts the School Trustee election concurrently with the General Local Election,” Brar noted. “This approach provides efficiencies for both organizations while enabling voters to cast ballots for both municipal council and school trustees at the same voting locations. Prior to each General Local Election, the parties enter into an agreement outlining their respective roles and responsibilities in administering the election process.”
Under the agreement, city hall provides all election equipment, staffing and operations necessary to run the election while the school district will provide access to 47 schools to be used as for as voting locations on general election day – October 17 – and six secondary schools will also be used for advance voting. The school district also provides custodial, technical and network support at polling stations.
Surrey city staff figure the October 17 general election will cost taxpayers about $3,448,004 and also project there will be 352,148 registered voters, 123,252 ballots cast and a voter turnout of 35 per cent.
That’s the funding as set out in the City of Surrey’s 2026 corporate services department operating budget, including a five per cent contingency.
Brar in a report that came before council in February indicated the city is “well positioned to deliver a legally compliant and positive election experience for voters.”