Elections BC plan for voting during COVID-19

Sep 21, 2020 | 5:06 PM

Like most things in 2020, the provincial election on October 24th will be impacted by COVID-19 health and safety requirements.

All voting places and district electoral offices will have protective measures in place, including:

Physical distancing
Capacity limits
Election officials wearing personal protective equipment (such as masks and face-visors)
Protective barriers
Hand sanitizing stations
Frequent cleaning of voting stations and frequently touched surfaces
Election workers trained on safe workplace guidelines and pandemic protocols

Elections BC worked with WorkSafeBC and provincial health officials to develop the plan.

Some familiar voting procedures may be different. For example, you will show your identification without handing it to an election official, and you will make a verbal declaration of your eligibility to vote instead of signing a voting book.

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Additional advance voting dates will be added to reduce the number of voters at polling stations, a mail in ballot can also be requested, and for at-risk voters and voters with disabilities there is curbside voting, assisted telephone voting, and site-based voting.

Voters don’t need a special reason to vote by mail. It’s an option for all eligible voters, and a good option for voters who are not comfortable voting in person because of the pandemic.

To vote by mail, voters need to request a voting package. Voting packages can be requested now on the Elections BC website at elections.bc.ca/ovr or by phone at 1-800-661-8683. The vote-by-mail package will be mailed to the voter with instructions on how to complete it and return it to Elections BC.

As of September 20, 2020, there were 3,469,162 registered voters in B.C.

In the 41st Provincial General Election held on May 9, 2017, there were:

· 87 electoral districts

· 371 candidates

· 3,441,054 estimated eligible voters

· 3,246,647 registered voters

· 1,986,374 registered voters who voted

Voter turnout as a percentage of registered voters in the past three provincial elections in B.C. was:

· 2017 – 61.2%

· 2013 – 57.1%

· 2009 – 55.1%

by Kevin Rothwell