Advance voting will begin Oct. 15 at three locations on the lower Sunshine Coast.
Elections BC will be using the Gibsons and Area Community Centre on Park Road for voting on Oct. 15 and 16. Voters can cast a ballot at the Madeira Park Legion at 12829 Lillies Lake Rd. on Oct. 19 and 21. And polling stations will be set up at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre at 5604 Trail Ave. from Oct. 16 to 19.
Voting is also possible at the district electoral office, which is also located at 5604 Trail Ave., up until 4 p.m. on Oct. 24.District electoral offices are normally open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, but they’ll open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the advance-voting period.
At the beginning of the campaign, chief electoral officer Anton Boegman said a pre-election survey of voters suggested between 35 and 40 per cent would choose mail-in ballots.
As of Oct. 7, Elections BC had already received 597,000 requests for vote-by-mail packages, which is roughly 30 per of the number of valid votes cast across the province in the 2017 election.
Elections BC officials told Coast Reporter that they were not able to give riding-specific information about the number of mail-in ballot requests.
In 2017, just 114 people voted by mail in Powell River-Sunshine Coast. If the riding follows the emerging trend for 2020, that number could be in the 8,000 to 12,000 range – more than the margin of victory in the 2017 vote.
Completed mail-in ballot packages must be received by Elections BC before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24.
In a timeline published on its website, Elections BC said the final vote count, which is when mail-ins and absentee ballots will be tallied and added to the votes cast in person, will begin Nov. 6
“Preparations for final count and the final count itself may take more time depending on the number of mail-in ballots,” Elections BC said.
Visit www.elections.bc.ca or call 1-800-661-8683 for more information on voting and COVID precautions at polling stations.
