Stephanie Hoffman. (submitted photo)

By Pete McIntyre

sign violation

Local candidate fined for election contravention

Apr 12, 2023 | 4:00 PM

A candidate for Coldstream council last fall has been fined by Elections BC for a sign violation.

The agency said it received a complaint on October 12, 2022, that Stephanie Hoffman’s campaign signs did not contain an authorization statement, a contravention under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act.

Elections BC said on October 14, 2022, it followed up with Hoffman regarding the signs, and informed her that she was required to include an authorization statement on all election advertising.

“You indicated that you would rectify the error as soon as possible,” the agency stated in its ruling.

On December 1, 2022 an Elections BC investigator reached out to Hoffman to obtain further information about the signs.

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“The investigation concluded that your campaign signs initially did not contain an authorization statement. You indicated that you had reused your signs from a previous election, and had not purchased new ones. You previously reported the signs to be valued at $329.12,” the agency stated.

Hoffman could have been fined up to $5,000 for the infraction, but was assessed a $200 penalty.

She can request a review by an adjudicator.

Hoffman was one of the six councillors elected in 2022, winning her second term on council.

Vernon Matters reached out to Hoffman for comment.

“I feel like BC Elections is justified in ensuring that all the proper information is made visible to the public regarding a candidate running in an election campaign but I feel that with this type of offense, an initial warning would suffice in giving the opportunity to the candidate to make the required corrections to their advertising,” Hoffman said. “A fine may be warranted in the event the corrections are not made within a given time frame.”

Hoffman added she wrote a response to Elections BC asking for a review to be done as it was never her intention to mislead the public in any way by not having an authorization statement on her campaign signs.

“It clearly was an oversight on my behalf in the Election handbook, and when first notified of this offense, I immediately made the appropriate corrections to all my signs,” she told Vernon Matters. “Upon asking others running last year, it seems that there were multiple potential candidates unaware of the requirement of an authorization statement.”

Hoffman was told by Elections BC that the $200 fine will most likely stand in a further review based on the findings of the investigation.

“It seems like it may be a minimum amount that cannot be reduced based on what was mentioned in the email I received.”

Elections BC issued three other administrative penalties on Wednesday. View the details here.