Elections BC says ballot box containing 861 votes uncounted
Elections BC says it has discovered that a ballot box containing 861 votes wasn’t counted in the recent provincial election, as well as other mistakes including 14 votes going unreported in a crucial riding narrowly won by the NDP.
Elections BC has revealed that a ballot box with 861 votes went uncounted in the recent provincial election, along with other errors, such as 14 unreported votes in a key riding narrowly secured by the NDP.
The election agency clarified that the missing ballot box did not impact the outcome in Prince George-Mackenzie. Meanwhile, the unreported votes in Surrey-Guildford were found during preparations for a judicial recount in the riding, where Garry Begg’s 27-vote margin gave the NDP a one-seat majority.
Anton Boegman, B.C.’s chief electoral officer, stated that the “anomaly” in the Surrey-Guildford count prompted a provincewide review.
The review, which began last Wednesday and concluded on Sunday, identified what the agency described as “data entry omissions,” leading to counting errors in 69 of the province’s 93 ridings.
The statement noted that the number of unreported votes in each district was small and did not affect the final outcomes in any of them, subject to judicial recounts in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Centre.
A recount of the ballot box in Prince George-Mackenzie, which was decisively won by B.C. Conservative Kiel Giddens, has also been requested.
