Polling stations in BC closed unprecedented provincial election due to COVID-19 pandemic
BC NDP Leader John Horgan called a snap election on September 21, saying the province needs a majority government to deal with the ongoing global crisis
Horgan has been slammed by British Columbia Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson and new British Columbia Green Leader Sonia Furstenau for sending voters to the polls amid the global pandemic and breaking the deal that ‘he concluded with the Greens in order to form the government in 2017
The Oct 24 vote comes less than a week since provincial health worker Dr Bonnie Henry said BC is now in a second wave of the pandemic, with a growing number of new cases daily of COVID-19 in the past few days
Record number of mail-in ballots requested from Elections BC also suggests a winner will not be declared on Saturday night
Elections BC on Friday estimated that only around 65-70% of the votes would be counted that night, which could delay final results in close races
Around 478,900 mail-in ballot papers had been returned by Friday morning, representing about 66% of all mail-in packages requested and issued to date, Elections BC said
Advance votes will be counted on polling day Mail-in ballots will be counted no earlier than 13 days after polling day, in accordance with provincial law
When disbanded in September, the NDP and the Liberals were tied with 41 seats in the Legislature, while the Greens held two seats, two more were independent, and one seat was vacant
The Global News Election Special will be broadcast live from 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. PT on Global BC, BC1, AM980 CKNW radio and for free on the Global TV app, Amazon Prime Video or the Global YouTube channel News
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Elections in British Columbia, elections in British Columbia, election results in British Columbia
News from around the world – CA – Polls closed in BC election like no other