Voters can get in a little shopping before casting their ballots in the 2014 municipal election in Burnaby.
On Monday night, Burnaby council approved plans to place polling stations at Metropolis at Metrotown and Brentwood and Lougheed town centres for the next civic election.
Those stations would also be advance voting locations, as well as the new Edmonds Community Centre and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
The polling station locations were recommended in a report by the executive committee of council as a way to increase voter turnout.
"Voter turnout has been on a steady decline over the last decade," the report stated. "The recommendations in this report focus on increasing voter participation by making it more convenient for electors to cast their ballots and enhancing the overall experience at the polls through a faster and more streamlined process."
The report also recommended that an electronic list of electors be used, to allow names to be struck off electronically as electors receive their ballots and vote.
This was used at the advanced polling station in the 2011 election, according to the report.
The system maintained confidentiality while processing electors more quickly and providing more information and greater control of the voting process.
The committee also recommended introducing an at-large voting system, so residents of Burnaby could vote at any polling station in the city, rather than being required to use the one closest to their known address.
The report was prepared by the 2011 chief election officer, Anne Skipsey. All of the recommendations in the report were approved by council at the Monday night council meeting.
Mayor Derek Corrigan said he was appalled at the idea of online voting replacing voting done at polling station locations, but added he also thought steps needed to be taken to engage voters and increase voter turnout.
Coun. Colleen Jordan mentioned the Local Government Elections Task Force, which made 31 recommendations to change the local election process.
The provincial government approved the changes in summer 2010 and expected to implement them in time for the 2011 election, but did not.
"We've been waiting several years now for those changes," she said, adding the city was taking some of the recommended steps instead of waiting for the provincial government to implement them.
City staff have also been authorized to look into possible lease agreements to replace the current automated vote counting machines, and the city solicitor has been directed to prepare a bylaw allowing nomination papers and campaign financing disclosure statements to be posted online.
