Of the approximate 3.4-million registered voters in British Columbia, over 681,000 cast an early ballot during advance voting for the 2020 provincial election.
According to Elections BC, that means 19.5% of eligible voters utilized the seven days of advance voting leading up to election day this Saturday.
If you include mail-in ballot requests, Elections BC has received close to 400,000 vote-by-mail packages as of Thursday, although nearly 725,000 mail-in ballots were requested by voters. To-date 55% of requested ballots have been returned to Elections BC. However, mail-in ballots that were dropped off during advance voting or are currently in-transit are not counted as having been “received” by the elections authority.
As of Thursday, current voter turnout including mail-in ballots received and ballots cast during advance voting is 30.9%.
MORE: Advance Voter Turnout (Elections BC)
MORE: Vote-by-Mail Package Processing (Elections BC)
Here’s the effective breakdown on voter turnout in the local Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary ridings:
- Columbia River-Revelstoke
- Registered Voters – 26,166 *
- Advance Voting – 6,662
- Mail-in Ballots – 3,019 **
- Votes Cast – 9,681 ***
- Turnout Percentage – 36.9%
- Kootenay East
- Registered Voters – 32,135 *
- Advance Voting – 8,117
- Mail-in Ballots – 3,236 *
- Votes Cast – 11,353 **
- Turnout Percentage – 35.3%
- Nelson-Creston
- Registered Voters – 29,389 *
- Advance Voting – 6,581
- Mail-in Ballots – 4,041 *
- Votes Cast – 10,622 **
- Turnout Percentage – 36.1%
- Kootenay West
- Registered Voters – 33,192 *
- Advance Voting – 5,874
- Mail-in Ballots – 4,111 *
- Votes Cast – 9,985 **
- Turnout Precentage – 30.0%
- Boundary-Similkameen
- Registered Voters – 36,593 *
- Advance Voting – 10,791
- Mail-in Ballots – 5,193 *
- Votes Cast – 15,984 **
- Turnout Percentage – 43.6% *
With advance voting officially closing at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, the only opportunity for residents to vote is at a polling station on election day, Saturday, October 24th. Those that may have requested a mail-in ballot and received it this week are encouraged by Elections BC to complete it and drop it off in-person on election day or at a district electoral office in your riding. All completed vote-by-mail packages must be received by Elections BC before 8:00 pm (PT) on Saturday in order to be counted.
Completed vote-by-mail packages can be dropped off from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (Local) on Thursday and Friday or 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (PT) on Saturday at the following locations, in addition to any polling station on election day:
- Columbia River-Revelstoke
- 7585 W Main St – Radium Hot Springs
- Kootenay East
- C-520 Slater Rd NW – Cranbrook
- Nelson-Creston
- 570 Johnstone Rd – Nelson
- Kootenay West
- 1050 Eldorado St – Trail
- Boundary-Similkameen
- 8702 Main St – Osoyoos
MORE: District Electoral Offices (Elections BC)
* Registered voters from Elections BC are as of September 26, 2020Â
** Mail-in Ballots are packages issued by Elections BC to those requested, not those that have necessarily been received by Elections BC
*** Figure includes mail-in ballots issued by Elections BC, not necessarily ballots that have been successfully received for counting on election day
