Over 600,000 mail-in ballots are due to be counted beginning Friday, Nov. 6 including over 30,000 in the mid-Island. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

FINAL COUNT

Counting final votes from B.C. election begins, Parksville-Qualicum remains undecided

Nov 6, 2020 | 10:00 AM

NANAIMO — Hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots for the 2020 provincial election are finally being counted.

Counting began at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6 and will continue each day until 6 p.m. until all eligible votes are considered.

Elections BC said it received 32,823 mail-in and absentee ballots from the Nanaimo, Nanaimo-North Cowichan and Parksville-Qualicum ridings. They’re part of a record 664,315 mail-in ballots received province-wide.

Most came from the still contested Parksville-Qualicum riding where the 13,308 ballots still to be counted will decide whether NDP Adam Walker will unseat incumbent BC Liberal Michelle Stilwell. Walker leads by 942 votes as of Friday morning.

“I feel very strongly that every vote matters and that every vote must be counted properly,” Walker said in a written statement on Oct. 26. “Many people chose the option of the mail-in ballot in this election and I think everyone deserves to have their voice heard.”

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Since voters went to the polls on Oct. 24, Election BC has held and vetted mail-in ballots against voter rolls to prevent rare instances of a person voting multiple times.

“Certification envelopes that do not pass screening are set aside and not opened. During final count, certification envelopes that are found to contain no ballot or more than one marked ballot will also be set aside and not considered,” an Election BC statement read.

Results will be posted to the Election BC website on a continuing basis, with summaries at the end of each counting day.

Mail-in ballots can but are not expected to change the projected results in both Nanaimo and Nanaimo-North Cowichan.

Sheila Malcolmson is projected to remain MLA of Nanaimo with a lead of 4,336 votes. A total of 10,534 mail-in ballots were received for the riding.

NDP incumbent Doug Routley will watch the count a little closer. His lead is 2,628 votes over Green challenger Chris Istace with 8,981 mail-in ballot envelopes received.

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