BC's Mail In Ballots to be counted starting tomorrow

They'll be opening the mail bags tomorrow to count the ballots from the October 24th BC Provincial election. 

A count of outstanding ballots that will no doubt be much less controversial than the dramatic themes of south of the border and a count that most likely won't be changing much of the final standings from last months vote.

Elections BC outlined the process ahead with an information statement on Wednesday.

Starting at 10 a.m. on November 6, voting results will be updated as counting progresses at results.elections.bc.ca. Once a district completes counting a type of absentee ballot, results will be reported for that type of ballot, and the Elections BC website will be updated.

There are several different types of absentee ballots that are counted at final count, including ballots cast at district electoral offices and ballots cast outside the voter’s electoral district of residence. 

Results will be updated on the Elections BC website on an ongoing basis during the counting process, and at the end of each counting day. Counting is expected to continue until 6 p.m. each day until final count is complete, but counting hours may vary by district to ensure that final count is completed as soon as possible.

Across the Northwest, the work of counting the mail in votes should not require all three days put aside for the task. The number of mail in ballot requests for each constituency looks as follows:

North Coast -- 917 Vote packages issued
Skeena -- 1,765 Vote packages issued
Stikine -- 1,234 Vote packages issued
Nechako Lakes -- 1,151 Vote packages issued

The results most likely won't make for a change in status for any of the four candidates who found success two Saturdays' ago. 

The closest margin of victory from the vote of October 24th was found in Skeena, where BC Liberal Ellis Ross topped the NDP's Nicole Halbauer by 918 votes. 

So with 1,765 vote by mail packages still outstanding, o if there is to be any reversal of fortunes in the Northwest, Skeena would be the riding to watch. 

Vote totals to date for the four Northwest ridings in the 2020 BC election
(click to enlarge each box)

Towards the 2020 Vote experience, Elections BC has been sharing their review of how the vote went with Federal officials, as CEO Anton Boegman provided a presentation to the House of Commons procedure and house affairs Committee.

Elections BC's Anton Boegman relayed the findings from BC
when it comes to voting during a panademic

Some of the key themes related to this Octobers votes were relayed in a twitter thread yesterday. 

Among the most important pf the notes from their overview, there were no COVID-19 exposure events at any of the provincial voting locations during the course of the campaign.

Elections BC Chief Executive Officer, Anton Boegman's full presentation to the the Parliamentary Committee can be viewed here.

As they work their way through the mail through the weekend you can follow the findings from Elections BC here.

For a look back at the provincial campaign see our archive page here.