Vancouver just voted in an election that saw historic voter turnout and completely flipped the tables regarding the City’s leadership, and nearly 5,000 Vancouverites voted for Angela Dawson, aka Roller Girl or Rollergirl, for council.
More specifically, those votes were cast to appoint Rollergirl to Vancouver City Council.
While that might be a paltry amount compared to, say, Sean Orr, who received over 83,000 votes, or Lucy Maloney, who received over 63,000, Rollergirl didn’t place last.
In fact, she actually beat out 10 other council candidates. It also wasn’t because she was high on the ballot, because she wasn’t.
City of Vancouver
Daily Hive Urbanized heard from some Vancouver voters, who provided their reasons for voting for Rollergirl.
Before that, though, it’s important to note some of Rollergirl’s troubling history.
Rollergirl served 10 years in prison for allegedly beating an older adult to death. And reports suggest there are other examples of her criminal history.
She has been a divisive figure in Vancouver for years, with some feeling she’s problematic or dangerous, and others seeing her as a local character and offering some empathy for her mental health struggles.
So, why did nearly 5,000 people vote for Rollergirl for Vancouver City Council?
Rollergirl Angela Dawson (YouTube)
This isn’t’Rollergirl’s first crack at civic politics. In 2018, she even threw her hat into the mayoral race.
We asked voters why they voted for Rollergirl and received some interesting responses.
One response from a “somewhat serious person” noted that they voted for the candidates and parties they knew.
“I was very engaged this year, and I had actually met most of the people I voted for. I think I should say this because I acknowledge this vote implies I am not a serious person,” they told Daily Hive Urbanized.
The anonymous voter told Daily Hive Urbanized that if voters were being honest, they probably wouldn’t know all the candidates.
They said that while they could’ve left a blank space, they valued the spirit of a novelty candidate and East Vancouver.
“And ROLLERGIRL is both,” the voter said. (ROLLERGIRL, all caps, is how she appeared on the ballot).
One voter who didn’t cast a Rollergirl ballot agreed that it was likely the novelty factor that led to so many votes.
“I kinda like the idea of her skating into a council meeting,” they added.
We heard from some other voters in our response to “Why?”
“I have no clue who the candidates are or their priorities, so I threw her my only vote for council, pretty simple,” the voter said.
“She always does extremely well! For an independent,” a different voter said.
Another voter was surprised she was still in the mix, saying, “Holy s**t. She’s still running?”
It was interesting sifting through the responses, because it revealed how different voters interact with the system and the perspectives they’re coming from. In one comical example, a voter pointed out that someone they ran into was voting for the “cool hippie-looking candidate with an interesting name” for mayor.
In a separate example of why someone voted for Rollergirl for Vancouver City Council, a reporter told Daily Hive Urbanized that they like to throw a vote every now and then to an oddball independent candidate.
“It’s the irreverence in me.”
Someone else shared, “Her heart is in a good place, or it was 10 years ago last time I talked to her.”
A Burnaby voter pointed out that it wasn’t only Vancouver with an interesting name on the ballot, as a candidate in Burnaby was running under the name “MichaelAngelo ABCRobinhood.”
While she didn’t win a seat on Vancouver council this year, based on her history, there’s a pretty good chance this isn’t the last time we see the name “ROLLERGIRL” on a ballot.
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