The winner of the 2024 provincial election in British Columbia won’t be known for at least three more days, with two riding recounts and the tallying of mail-in ballots set to happen this weekend.
Initial counts for the Oct. 19 provincial election show the B.C. NDP are leading or elected in 46 seats, the B.C. Conservatives in 45 seats and the B.C. Greens have been elected in two seats. In the B.C. Legislature, 47 seats are required to form a majority government.
However, those seat counts won’t be finalized until the final tally occurs between Oct. 26 and 28. As of Wednesday afternoon, CBC News has not projected the winners for 11 ridings, with the NDP leading in six of those seats and the Conservatives in five.
Here’s what you need to know about B.C.’s election results delay.
When will we know a winner?
Under B.C.’s Election Act, the final count of all ballots must take place on a date specified by the province’s chief electoral officer, which must be at least four days after final voting day.
In the case of the 2024 election, the final count is scheduled to start on Oct. 26 and go until Oct. 28.
What does the final count include?
The final count will include mail-in ballots and out-of-district votes that were sent to Elections B.C. after the close of advance voting. It will also include manual recounts for two ridings, where the margin of victory is considered too tight.
Elections B.C. says its operations team will provide more details on the recounts later this week. CBC News will project a winner once results are finalized this weekend.
With the winner of the B.C. election yet to be determined, political scientist Hamish Telford sheds light on what could come next, and says it’s possible the NDP is looking for a partnership with the Greens like the one it had after the 2017 vote.
How many mail-in ballots will be counted?
The provincial elections authority has received around 49,000 mail-in and absentee ballots to be counted this weekend.
Which ridings’ results will be recounted?
The two ridings where recounts will occur are Juan de Fuca-Malahat, which the NDP is leading by 20 votes, and Surrey City Centre, which the NDP is leading by 95 votes.
Any district where the margin of victory is 100 votes or less is subject to an automatic recount. Parties can also request a recount in close ridings.
Elections B.C. says recounts have to be conducted by hand, and not by tabulators, as per law.
Why the delay? Why can’t we start counting now?
Elections B.C. says the timing of the final count is determined by the Election Act, and a number of factors go into why it might take a while for a riding’s results to be known.
B.C. has a “vote anywhere” model, in which voters registered in one riding can cast their ballot at a polling station in a different riding. Elections B.C. says counting “extensive” amounts of those votes took more time on election night.
“Because B.C. has a vote anywhere model, we need to send any ballots for candidates in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre that were cast in other districts to those two electoral districts to conduct their recounts,” an Elections B.C. statement reads.
“This process must be completed accurately and securely, which takes time.”
Were the votes counted by hand?
Elections B.C. says that a majority of the votes cast in this election were counted by electronic tabulators, and only a small number of ballots cast at certain polling stations were counted by hand.
While recounts will be manually counted, most mail-in ballots will be counted using tabulators.
Could we see judicial recounts?
Judicial recounts, which are manually conducted by a justice of the B.C. Supreme Court, can be requested by a candidate in a riding where the total margin of victory is less than 1/500 of the number of total ballots cast.
This year, a request for a judicial recount must be made within six days of final count — which would be Nov. 4.
If it’s granted, the recount then must occur between seven and 15 days after the results of the final count are declared, Elections B.C. says.
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