BC’s chief electoral officer on Monday announced a box of 861 ballots was discovered to be uncounted in the province’s recent election. While BC Elections said it has “applied for a judicial recount,” Conservative leader John Rustad called for an independent review “to ensure that these types of mistakes never happen again.”In addition to the box of uncounted votes in the Prince George-Mackenzie electoral district, there were 14 unreported votes in Surrey-Guildford, which Rustad points out was a “crucial riding narrowly won by the NDP.”“While I am not disputing the final outcome pending remaining judicial recounts, it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process,” wrote Rustad on Twitter (“X”). “This is an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”“At a time when confidence in election integrity is more fragile than ever before, British Columbians deserve assurance that every vote counts and that these errors are corrected.”“This is why I’m calling for an independent review to ensure that these types of mistakes never happen again. Democracy is too sacred to allow trust to erode to the lows we see today.”.BC Elections said the ballots that went uncounted and unreported “will not affect the outcome of the election,” but added the agency has been ordered to “correct several errors in results reporting at final count.”“Election officials in five electoral districts erred by not reporting out-of-district results that had been recorded on 11 tabulator tapes (part of the ballot account),” wrote Chief Elections Officer Anton Boegman in a statement, calling them “the result of human error.”“None of these results reporting omissions affect the outcome of any electoral district contest,” reads the statement.“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.”
BC’s chief electoral officer on Monday announced a box of 861 ballots was discovered to be uncounted in the province’s recent election. While BC Elections said it has “applied for a judicial recount,” Conservative leader John Rustad called for an independent review “to ensure that these types of mistakes never happen again.”In addition to the box of uncounted votes in the Prince George-Mackenzie electoral district, there were 14 unreported votes in Surrey-Guildford, which Rustad points out was a “crucial riding narrowly won by the NDP.”“While I am not disputing the final outcome pending remaining judicial recounts, it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process,” wrote Rustad on Twitter (“X”). “This is an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”“At a time when confidence in election integrity is more fragile than ever before, British Columbians deserve assurance that every vote counts and that these errors are corrected.”“This is why I’m calling for an independent review to ensure that these types of mistakes never happen again. Democracy is too sacred to allow trust to erode to the lows we see today.”.BC Elections said the ballots that went uncounted and unreported “will not affect the outcome of the election,” but added the agency has been ordered to “correct several errors in results reporting at final count.”“Election officials in five electoral districts erred by not reporting out-of-district results that had been recorded on 11 tabulator tapes (part of the ballot account),” wrote Chief Elections Officer Anton Boegman in a statement, calling them “the result of human error.”“None of these results reporting omissions affect the outcome of any electoral district contest,” reads the statement.“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.”
