Victoria,BC – Elections BC has completed the initial count of ballots in all electoral districts, and preparations are underway for the final count, scheduled from October 26 to October 28. Under the ‘Election Act’, the final count cannot begin until at least four days after Final Voting Day, held on October 19, and candidates will not be declared elected until the final count is completed.
Initial count began immediately after polls closed at 8 p.m. on October 19. The use of tabulators resulted in faster reporting than previous elections, with 59% of the preliminary results reported by 8:30 p.m. and 85% by 9 p.m. In comparison, the 2017 election saw only 13.5% of results reported by 9 p.m. However, manual counting at non-technology voting places and the need to process out-of-district ballots slowed reporting later in the evening.
Elections BC reported 99.72% of results by early October 20, with the final results to be verified during final count.
Final count will focus on approximately 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots that could not be included in the initial tally. These ballots require additional verification to ensure voter eligibility and that no duplicate voting occurred. A detailed breakdown of the ballots by electoral district will be provided before the final count begins.
Recounts will take place in the ‘Juan de Fuca-Malahat’and ‘Surrey City Centre’districts, where the margin between the top two candidates is fewer than 100 votes. The recounts, which will be done manually by hand, are mandated under the ‘Election Act’. Additionally recounts may be requested until October 22.
Judicial recounts, conducted by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, may occur if the vote margin is less than 1/500th of total ballots or if requested by a candidate.
Voter turnout for this election is estimated at 57.41%, a significant increase from the 53.86% in the 2020 provincial election. A record 2,037,897 ballots were cast, surpassing the previous high of 1,986,374 votes in 2017.
Final election results will be posted on Elections BC’s website once the final count is complete.