Home Election Tracker BC Provincial 2024 BC Conservatives call for independent review of Elections BC

BC Conservatives call for independent review of Elections BC

All-party committee would have potential bias, say BC Conservatives.

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BC Conservatives call for an independent review of Elections BC performance in handling the 47th BC provincial election. [Nov 7, 2024 | X]
BC 2024 Provincial Election news analysis

Thursday November 7, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC

by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends


“We call for a truly independent review of the mistakes made by Elections BC,” says the BC Conservative Party today in a post in social media.

“An all-party committee is not an effective way of addressing this issue,” the post said, referencing the statement by BC NDP Premier David Eby that an all-party committee would review the performance of Elections BC in handling the most recent BC provincial election.

bc conservatives, elections bc
BC Conservatives call for an independent review of Elections BC performance in handling the 47th BC provincial election. [Nov 7, 2024 | X]

Errors made:

Elections BC had discovered that a ballot box had gone missing and that some ballots in another riding had not been counted. Neither instance will impact the overall outcome of the election, according to Elections BC CEO Anton Boegman on November 5.

Anton Boegman, CEO, Elections BC
Anton Boegman, CEO, Elections BC addressed media via Zoom on Nov 5, 2024.

There was human error in the handling of Elections BC results during the 2024 BC Proivincial election and Elections BC vows to look into it.

There was a discrepancy of 14 votes in one riding and complete oversight of a full ballot box with 861 ballots in another riding.

Room for error:

Clearly when District Electoral Offices across the province (at least one in each riding) can accept write-in, mail-in and absentee ballots over the course of a 28-day campaign period, there is room for error.

That would include storage of the ballot boxes (on site and off-site), sealing of the boxes, exposure to water or fire, and shipping of the boxes to a central counting location.

ballot boxes, at DEO, 2017
Ballot boxes are stored in District Electoral Offices during the full election period (from Writ drop to final election day). [File photo – April 2017 – West Shore Voice News]

All-party approach:

All-party committees are thought to be a way to provide fair representation, but as in most instances, the governing party chairs committees to usually ensure the direction of outcomes.

“Politics will get in the way. Why not have an independent investigation? Why be against such an idea?,” the BC Conservatives continued in their post in social media today.

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