At least 26 per cent of registered voters have cast a ballot in B.C.’s upcoming election, according to Elections BC.
According to the agency, there have been at least 347,900 mail-in voting packages returned as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 21), about 48 per cent of the total vote-by-mail ballots issued. An additional 564,951 people have cast a ballot during advanced voting days, which began on Oct. 15, for a total of 912,851 votes already cast ahead of the Oct. 24 election. In the last provincial election in 2017, there were 614,389 people who cast a ballot during advanced voting while 6,517 voted by mail for a total of 619,906 early ballots cast. There are a total of 3,485,858 registered voters in B.C. as of Sept. 26.
Advance voting runs until 8 p.m. Wednesday at advanced polling stations, which can be found here: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/advance-voting-places.pdf. Voters can also cast a ballot at their local district electoral office until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. District electoral offices will be open until 8 p.m. Wednesday, due to advanced voting, and open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday. They will be open until 4 p.m. for in-person voting (until 8 p.m. for mail-in ballot drop-off) on Election Day Saturday.
For voters who haven’t sent their mail-in ballot yet, Elections BC recommends no longer mailing it but dropping it off at advanced voting, a district electoral office or at Service BC locations, some of which have a 24/7 dropbox. For a list of Service BC locations and dropboxes, visit: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/service-bc-locations.pdf. Mail-in ballots can also be dropped off at a polling station or a district electoral office on Election Day until 8 p.m.
All hours are Pacific Standard Time.
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