“To British Columbians who voted for change, I hear you and the serious message you have sent. We have not done enough and we must do better,” BC NDP leader David Eby
SURREY: The 2024 British Columbia election have been very close and tense. Polls predicted tight race between the David Eby led NDP and the Conservative Party, led by John Rustad. The polls were right, as no clear winner emerged on the result day in B.C.
Both parties fell short of winning the required 47 seats to form a government. Also, there were some shocking outcomes with NDP losing almost 70 percent of its seats in Surrey.
The Initial count was complete in all electoral districts across the province with NDP winning 46 seats and BC Conservative party winning 45 seats. A party needs 47 seats in total to form a government. BC’s Green party only won 2 seats across the province with a surprising defeat of its leader Sonia Furstenau from her riding.
According to election BC, “At the conclusion of initial count, voter turnout was estimated to be 57.41%. This is up from the last B.C. election in 2020, in which 53.86% of registered voters cast a ballot. As of the close of initial count, 2,037,897 ballots have been cast, the most ever in a provincial election in B.C. The previous record was 1,986,374 votes cast in the 2017 provincial election.”
The question that every British Columbian has – what happens next when no party has won the number of seats required to form a government?
There will be a final count where remaining votes will be considered and there will be recount of votes in some ridings. The votes counted on October 19 were initial count.
However, there are certain votes that cannot be counted until final count, because they require additional integrity checks to ensure the voter was eligible to vote and that they only voted once. Ballots counted at final count include mail-in ballots returned after the close of advance voting, and out-of-district ballots cast by voters at non-technology voting places.
According to Election BC, the final count process for B.C.’s provincial election is scheduled to begin on October 26 and will conclude on October 28.
Final count includes absentee and mail-in ballots that cannot be counted at initial count. The majority of the ballots counted at final count will be mail-in ballots. Packages could be returned up until 8 p.m. Pacific time on October 19, either by mail or in person. Many packages were received close to the deadline and must be counted at final count. Elections BC estimates that approximately 49,000 ballots will be considered at part of final count. A breakdown of the number of ballots being considered at final count by electoral district will be provided before final count starts.
Voting results will be updated on Elections BC’s website during preparations for final count the week of October 21 (to correct any transcription errors) and while final count progresses from October 26 to 28.
There will also be recount of votes in two ridings. District electoral officer recounts will take place in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre electoral districts. Under the Election Act, recounts must take place in these districts because the difference between the top two candidates is 100 votes or fewer.
These recounts will take place as part of final count between October 26 and 28. Under the Election Act, ballots at district electoral officer recounts are counted manually, by hand. Candidates or official agents can also request district electoral officer recounts until October 22.
According to Election BC, Judicial recounts may occur after the conclusion of final count. If the difference between the top two candidates in an electoral district is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered, a judicial recount must take place. “Judicial recounts are conducted by a justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and may include some or all of the ballots in an election. Judicial recounts can also be requested by a candidate for the same reasons as a district electoral officer recount . Judicial recount requests must be made within six days of the conclusion of final count (November 4),” said Election BC in a press release.