Monday November 4, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
One unopened ballot box has been discovered in the Prince George-Mackenzie (PRM) electoral district. The contents were not counted or reported on election night, October 19.
Today November 4, Elections BC says it is applying for a judicial recount for that one ballot box, after discovering that votes contained within were not counted or reported on election night.
The ballot box contains approximately 861 votes and will not affect the outcome of the election in PRM, says Elections BC.
Other errors at final count:
“I have also issued an Order of the Chief Electoral Officer to correct several errors in results reporting at final count,” says Anton Boegman, Chief Electoral Officer, Elections BC.
“Election officials in six electoral districts erred by not reporting out-of-district results that had been recorded on 11 tabulator tapes (part of the ballot account),” said Boegman in a news release today.
“These errors were discovered during preparations for the judicial recounts in Kelowna Centre (KEC) and Surrey-Guildford (SRG), and were the result of human error,” said Boegman.
Outcomes not impacted:
“None of these results reporting omissions affect the outcome of any electoral district contest,” said Boegman.
Elections BC goes on to explain: “In both cases, the unreported votes represent less than 0.08% of all results reported. For context, across 93 electoral districts, there were approximately 2,500 ballot accounts in total. These reporting omissions impact a small number of votes in 69 electoral districts, but comprise only 0.05% of total votes in those districts.”
Final count was on October 28:
Final count for the 2024 Provincial Election concluded on October 28. Following the conclusion of final count, judicial recounts were confirmed in KEC and SRG because of the close margins in those races.
See: FINAL COUNT BY CANDIDATES | FINAL COUNT BY PARTY
Voting anywhere in the province:
In BC elections, voters can vote anywhere in the province. This meant that ballots for KEC and SRG could be in any other district. To prepare for these recounts, election materials needed to be sent to KEC and SRG. These materials included ballots and tabulator tapes (from the associated ballot accounts). Elections BC began gathering these materials for shipment to KEC and SRG on October 29.
Ballot location was identified:
“Election officials used data from Elections BC’s Electoral Information System to identify the location of the ballots and other election materials that needed to be shipped. During this process, an anomaly in the data for SRG was discovered. Upon investigation we determined that an election official data entry mistake had resulted in 14 votes for SRG not being reported,” it was stated in today’s Elections BC news release.
“My office immediately initiated a comprehensive province-wide review to determine if any other errors or omissions had occurred. The review occurred from October 30 to November 3,” says Boegman.
Data entry omissions in five electoral districts:
“The review by Elections BC identified the data entry omissions in five electoral districts. As noted, although the omissions affected results reporting in 69 electoral districts, the number of unreported votes per district was small and did not affect the outcome in those districts, or any requirements for judicial recounts,” says Elections BC.
“On Friday November 1 we disclosed this information to the Justices and parties involved in the judicial recounts and advised that we were continuing our review to ensure that any additional omissions were identified.”
During this further review Elections BC determined that a single ballot box in Prince George-Mackenzie had not been counted and reported at initial count. This box contained approximately 861 votes, seven of which were out-of-district ballots. We are making application for a judicial recount for this ballot box to ensure that these ballots can be counted and added to the already reported votes in the districts. As previously stated, the addition of these results will not affect the outcome of the election in that district, or in the judicial recount districts.
Updated results to come:
“The Order of the Chief Electoral Officer that I have issued will enable districts impacted by the data entry omissions to update their results before the end of the election period. This will ensure that the results reported in these districts are accurate and match what is recorded on the ballot accounts,” says the Chief Electoral Officer.
All parties and candidates affected by these omissions have been notified and informed of the measures being taken to address them.
“Once judicial recounts are completed in SRG, KEC and PRM we will update official results from those contests on our website, and issue the report certifying the results of the election,” says Boegman.
Over 17,000 election officials:
Elections BC says that provincial elections rely on the work of over 17,000 election officials from communities across the province.
“Unfortunately, unintentional human errors do occur in administering the vote,” said Elections BC in their news release today.
“The use of Chief Electoral Officer Orders and the judicial recount process enables such errors to be corrected. These steps are critical to ensure all votes are accurately counted and reported prior to the end of the election period.”
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