BC’s Chief Electoral Officer issues formal order for 43rd Provincial General Election

There are 93 electoral districts
New technology will be used this time to help voters with sight loss and other forms of disability
B.C.’s Chief Electoral Officer has issued the writs of election for the 43rd Provincial General Election. Final Voting Day will take place on Saturday, October 19 in 93 electoral districts.
The writ of election is a formal order signed by the Chief Electoral Officer and the Lieutenant Governor that directs a District Electoral Officer to conduct an election. An election is called when the writ of election has been issued. In a general election, a writ is issued for each of the province’s 93 electoral districts. When they are returned, the election period is officially over.
There are lots of ways to vote from now until Final Voting Day on October 19. Eligible voters can vote at any district electoral office during office hours, by mail, at advance voting from October 10-13, and October 15-16, or on Final Voting Day, Saturday, October 19, 2024.
New voting processes are being used to administer this election. This includes using networked laptops instead of paper lists to look up voters and cross them off the voters list.
Networked laptops will be used to look up voters and cross them off the voters list, instead of paper lists. This reduces line-ups, makes the voting process more efficient and helps voters vote at any voting place.
Electronic tabulators will be used to count paper ballots. Tabulators are accurate, secure and efficient. They help us report results quickly on election night.
These changes mean that almost all ballots in the election will be counted on election night. In past BC elections, absentee and mail-in ballots could not be counted until final count, which took place about two weeks after election day. This delay was necessary to complete the manual, paper-based checks that were required to verify that the voters who cast these ballots were eligible to vote and that they had only voted once. The new voting process and the networked laptops allow us to perform these integrity checks much faster—almost in real-time. This means that around 98% of all ballots, including absentee and mail-in ballots, will be counted on election night.
The technology provides new services for voters with sight loss and other forms of disability. An Accessible Voting System will be available in every district electoral office as soon as possible after the close of candidate nominations on September 28. Voters will have the option to listen to an audio recording of the candidate list for their district and cast their vote by using a hand-held selector device, sip-and-puff straws or paddles. Voters using the system will be able to mark their ballot independently, and be confident that their choice will be counted accurately.
Election BC is urging voters to stay away from disinformation and misinformation. It is vital that British Columbians have accurate, factual information about the electoral process, especially information about where and when they can vote in a provincial election.