Even though polls show the No side in the transportation vote has an early lead, past voting patterns suggest the mayors may still have time to reach voters.

Nearly three-quarters of the ballots in the 2011 mail-in referendum on the HST were received in the last two weeks of the voting period, and more than half of the ballots came in the final week, numbers from Elections BC show.

“Clearly they have a hill to climb,” said Shachi Kurl of Angus Reid, who has published one of several polls saying the Yes side is behind. “They want to go out and tell people they’re climbing it. Ten weeks is a lifetime in a campaign. One week is a lifetime.”

Ballots were mailed out Monday to Metro Vancouverites who will vote whether they want to pay a 0.5% sales tax increase in exchange for a $7.5 billion package of transportation improvements, including new b-line buses, a new Broadway subway, a new Pattullo bridge, and LRT in Surrey.

Voters may send the ballots immediately, and the lastest they can send the ballots to Elections BC is by May 29.

A poll from March 5 that was released Monday pegged the no side leading at 61 per cent, versus a yes side at 27 per cent, with the remainder undecided. The poll suggested that many no voters put the reason they voted no because Translink is wasteful.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he didn’t put much stock in the polls – and that the support was higher than expected.

“We’re in politics for a living. We take polls with a grain of salt. We don’t put a lot of faith in the numbers. It’s dated. It’s from weeks ago. We’re hearing positives on the streets,” Robertson said.

Robertson said a lot of work had to be done to correct incorrect assumptions about the vote.

“This is not a vote about Translink and there’s a lot of confusion about that,” he said.

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said the vote is actually about transportation improvements that could keep Vancouver moving to avoid traffic jams that could hurt the region’s economy.

“We need to think about future generations,” Moore said. “Will we make the right decision or the wrong decision or stand still and let congestion take over our lives?”

In the 2011 HST referendum, 2 per cent of the ballots were received in the first week, 11 per cent in the second week, 14 per cent in the third week, 19 per cent in the fourth week, and 53 per cent in the final week, Elections BC numbers show.