A one-vote mismatch between an electronic tabulator and a hand-written entry by an elections worker has prompted a partial recount in the riding of sa国际传媒 Centre.聽
The recount will be conducted this weekend along with the counting of an estimated 65,000 mail-in and absentee ballots province-wide that have the potential to affect the outcome of last聽Saturday's election.聽
Currently, with 2,039,460 votes counted, the NDP have won or are leading in 46 ridings, the Conservatives have won or are leading in 45 ridings, and the Greens have won two ridings.聽
In sa国际传媒 Centre, BC Conservative candidate Kristina Loewen has 10,744 votes, while NDP candidate Loyal Wooldridge has 10,596 votes. Wooldridge asked for a recount, which was granted in partial form by Elections BC.
鈥淚n sa国际传媒 Centre, a transcription error of one vote was identified between a ballot account and a results tape. This discrepancy is likely due to election official error,鈥 the non-partisan election agency said in a statement.聽
鈥淎 ballot account is a form completed by election officials showing the number of ballots issued and the votes for each candidate, based on the tabulator results tape. While the tabulator in question passed all testing and produced results accurately, a recount of the ballots by that tabulator will be conducted as a result of the ballot account error. This recount will be conducted by hand,鈥 the statement said.聽
Asked Friday why he requested a recount based on a one-vote recording discrepancy, Wooldridge did not respond but a campaign aide, Jessica Samuels, wrote in an email: "At this point, we will let Loyal's campaign post from Oct. 20 stand. We do not have anything further to add."
In that post to social media, Wooldridge wrote: "While the final count is still to come in the next few days, as of right now, we aren't currently in the lead."
Loewen via email of the partial recount: 鈥淲e look forward to the finalization of the count. We thank Elections BC for running an efficient program and including our scrutineers in the count.鈥
There were seven polling stations used in the riding of sa国际传媒-Centre. The recount will be for the count at only one of those stations where the one-vote recording discrepancy was discovered, Elections BC said in a follow-up email to The Daily Courier.聽
sa国际传媒 10,000 votes are expected to be counted in the partial recount in聽sa国际传媒 Centre, set to be conducted on Sunday afternoon, Elections BC said. The agency did not respond when asked at which polling station the one-vote recording error occurred.聽
In previous provincial elections, the NDP candidate has fared better in and around downtown sa国际传媒 than in other areas of the city. In 2020, the NDP won almost half the polling districts in and around downtown sa国际传媒.聽
While the contest in sa国际传媒 Centre was close, the BC Conservatives easily won election in the three other sa国际传媒-area ridings.聽
BC Elections officials say it won't be until Monday before the makeup of the legislature is finalized.
The updated timeline provided by Elections BC says results of the Surrey City Centre recount will be posted on its website on Sunday when it is complete, while the outcome from Juan De Fuca鈥擬alahat will be posted when it is finished the next day. Both recounts are mandatory because the current margin between the NDP and BC Conservative candidates is less than 100.
Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer with the University of British Columbia, says it's hard to predict the impact the 65,000 votes still to be counted could have on the end result.
The NDP is holding a 23-vote lead in the Vancouver Island riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat and a 95-vote lead in Surrey City Centre.
Prest says he believes it's "within the realm of possibility" that Juan de Fuca-Malahat could flip to the Conservatives.
"I think it's less likely that the Conservatives would actually end with a majority, which is the most meaningful switch, given how it looks like the parties are organizing themselves," he says.
This wouldn't be the first time British Columbia has been governed by a minority in recent memory.
In 2017, the Greens struck a power-sharing agreement that resulted in a minority NDP government.
If the NDP hangs on to one or both of Surrey City Centre and Juan De Fuca鈥擬alahat, the party will be in a position to return to power in a minority government if it secures Green support, while if Conservatives flip both they will have the numbers for a majority government.
The Greens could also support a Conservative-led minority government, but there are wide ideological differences between the two parties.
Elections BC says the tally of mail-in ballots in all districts will be updated on its website at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and whenever a district's tally is complete.
A small number of remaining absentee ballots, which Elections BC says represent about one per cent of the total of more than two million ballots cast, will be counted on Monday, with the results updated on its website hourly.
"Because of sa国际传媒sa国际传媒 vote anywhere model, electoral districts are counting results for multiple electoral districts. This means that voting results will not be finalized until every district has finished counting," it says.