The final countdown

Seven days and counting.

The landscape of B.C.’s legislative assembly won’t entirely be revealed for another seven days until the final vote count on an extremely tight election has been conducted by Elections B.C. by Oct. 28.

As it stood on election night — Oct. 19 — there were 46 B.C. NDP candidates tentatively recorded as elected, with a surprising number of 45 for the Conservative Party of B.C., and two B.C. Green Party candidates thrown in for good measure. Those two seats held by the Green Party spell the balance of power right now, with the duo determining who will form the next government in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.

In the Kootenay Central riding, and further afield to the west (and north and south) in the Kootenay Monashee, the two NDP candidates are likely secure in their respective wins, with Brittny Anderson winning her seat by 1,626 votes (39.4 per cent of the total vote) over the nearest opponent, Kelly Vandenberghe of the Conservatives (6,840 votes).

Nicole Charlwood of the Green Party finished third with 4,020 votes (18.7 per cent of the riding vote) while independent candidate Corinne Mori was a strong fourth with 2,159 votes (10 per cent of the vote).

For Anderson, who is eager to begin work for the riding, it is a case of hurry up and wait.

“It is the work I have been doing for years and I am so excited to get back to work and get back to Victoria and, hopefully, we have a strong majority government” to do that, she said.

In the Kootenay Monashee, NDP candidate Steve Morrisette won by 2,452 votes, a remarkable 51.9 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Glen Byle of the Conservatives (39.1 per cent, 7,502 votes) and Donovan Cavers of the Green Party (1,745 votes, 9.1 per cent).

At the conclusion of initial count for the province, voter turnout was estimated to be 57.41 of the eligible voters, up from the last B.C. election in 2020 in which 53.86 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot.

As of the close of initial count, 2,037,897 ballots were cast — the most ever in a provincial election in B.C. — with the 1,986,374 votes cast in the 2017 provincial election being the previous high.

On Saturday night the NDP won the popular vote with 44.6 per cent of the vote, while the Conservatives were close behind at 43.6 per cent, and the Green Party trailed with just over eight per cent.

The final countdown

The final count for Elections B.C. officials is scheduled for Oct. 26-28, with the majority of the up to 49,000 ballots counted to be mail-in ballots.

Further quality assurance checks are conducted during the final count on the results already reported, with any transcription errors identified corrected on the Elections B.C. website (and candidates will be notified).

According to the Elections B.C. website, ballots considered at final count are screened before being counted to ensure that the voter was eligible and that they only voted once.

In addition, the final count includes absentee and mail-in ballots that cannot be counted at initial count.

Source: Elections B.C.