Monday September 21, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
Election Day in BC will be Saturday, October 24, 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The writs have been issued for British Columbia’s 42nd Provincial General Election.
“Our main focus is ensuring a safe and accessible voting process during the pandemic,” said Elections BC Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman.
Elections BC has been working with Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry’s office to develop “safe voting plans”. Voters won’t have to choose between safeguarding their health and exercising their right to vote.
Today Dr Henry told media that her office has been advising Elections BC since March when the pandemic first hit, to be prepared in the event of any election whether municipal, provincial or federal.
Premier John Horgan said earlier today that Dr Henry has been advising him for months that the pandemic would not be over any time soon, and will last at least through 2021.
Ways to vote:
All voters have the option of voting in person with protective measures in place, or voting by mail.
There will be more advance voting opportunities than in previous elections. Voting by mail has been available for many elections, but for this one during the COVID-19 pandemic it’s expected to be robustly popular.
Voting safely and COVID-19:
Elections BC is implementing a number of measures to help voters cast their ballot safely in person.
Pandemic voting protocols have been developed in consultation with the Office of the Provincial Health Officer. Safe voting practices for voting places are available at elections.bc.ca/safevoting and will include:
- Physical distancing
- Capacity limits
- Election officials wearing personal protective equipment (such as masks and face-visors)
- Protective barriers
- Hand sanitizing stations
- Frequent cleaning of voting stations and frequently touched surfaces
“We encourage voters to wear a mask when they vote to help protect others,” says Elections BC. Voters will not be asked to remove their mask to vote. Voters will be asked to sanitize their hands before and after voting.
To prevent close contact, some familiar voting procedures may be different. For example, voters will make a verbal declaration of their eligibility to vote instead of signing a voting book. Voters also can bring their own pen or pencil to mark their ballot.
Voting in person
Voting in person will be available during the advance voting period from Thursday, October 15 to Wednesday, October 21, and on Election Day, Saturday, October 24.
Advance voting places will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time. There will be seven days of advance voting, up from six in 2017. The additional advance voting day has been added to give voters more options and help reduce numbers in voting places. The advance voting period includes two weekend days, Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18.
Voting places will be open on Election Day — Saturday October 24 — from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time.
Voting places and the dates they are open are being confirmed and will be available on Elections BC’s website as soon as possible. They will also be listed on Where to Vote cards sent to every registered voter in the province before the start of the advance voting period.
Voters should stay home if they are feeling sick or self-isolating and request a vote-by-mail package instead.
Voting by postal mail:
Voters don’t need a special reason to vote by mail. It’s an option for all eligible voters, and a good option for voters who are not comfortable voting in person because of the pandemic.
To vote by mail, voters need to request a voting package. Voting packages can be requested now on the Elections BC website at elections.bc.ca/ovr or by phone at 1-800-661-8683. The vote-by-mail package will be mailed to the voter with instructions on how to complete it and return it to Elections BC.
The request for a mail-in ballot section of the Elections BC website does not state a deadline for requesting the package. The deadline for submitting it to Elections BC is 8 pm (Pacific Time) on General Voting Day Saturday October 24, 2020. “Return your completed package as soon as possible to ensure it is received by the deadline,” it is stated most of the way into the request process.
Requesting a mail-in ballot includes providing legal identification, email and/or phone number, and mailing address. Your home address must be in B.C. It cannot be a workplace or postal box number.
There are significant penalties for voter fraud, including fines up to $20,000, imprisonment for up to two years, or both. You can only request and vote with your own vote-by-mail package.
Voter registration:
Voters can register or update their information online at elections.bc.ca/ovr, or by calling 1-800-661-8683. Voter registration by phone closes at 8 p.m. (Pacific time) on Saturday, September 26. Voter registration online closes at 11:59:59 p.m. (Pacific time) on Saturday, September 26.
Eligible voters can still register or update their voter registration when they vote, but it will make the voting process longer for them. Elections BC encourages voters to make sure their information is up to date now so they can vote faster, help reduce lineups at voting places and support physical distancing.
Election official jobs:
Elections BC is recruiting election officials to work at advance voting and on Election Day. Visit elections.bc.ca/jobs for more information.
Candidate nominations:
Prospective candidates can submit completed nomination packages to Elections BC’s head office in Victoria until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. Completed packages can be submitted in person or electronically. Beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 24, completed nomination packages must be submitted to the district electoral officer for the district the candidate intends to run in.
Candidate nominations close at 1 p.m. (Pacific time) on Friday, October 2. The final list of candidates will be posted online at elections.bc.ca as soon as possible after nominations close.
District electoral offices:
District electoral offices will be open in every electoral district across the province as soon as possible. Locations and contact information will be listed on the Elections BC website when available.
You can vote or pick up a vote-by-mail package at any district electoral office in the province from as soon as offices open until 4 p.m. (Pacific) on Saturday, October 24. Offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during advance voting.
For more information about the provincial election, visit elections.bc.ca, follow Elections BC on social media, or call 1-800-661-8683.
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