Elections BC Prepares to Incorporate New Technology in Provincial Elections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2019

VICTORIA – Elections BC has received a letter from the Attorney General David Eby indicating the BC government’s intention to introduce legislation to act on the voting modernization recommendations in the Report of the CEO on Recommendations for Legislative Change 2018. These changes would include the use of electronic poll-books for real-time strike-off and ballot tabulators for efficient and faster counting. Elections BC is preparing to implement the legislative changes should they proceed, with a plan to implement modernized voting during the next scheduled provincial general election on October 16, 2021.

“Elections BC is pleased that the Attorney General’s office is moving forward with some of our recommendations for legislative change to improve elections in BC,” said Anton Boegman, British Columbia’s Chief Electoral Officer. “Should voting modernization be adopted, it will improve the voting experience for British Columbians, make voting faster, improve accessibility, speed up results, and provide candidates with current participation information to assist them in their efforts to get out the vote.”

BC will be incorporating best practices from other jurisdictions that have introduced new voting technologies. The systems will need to be adapted to meet British Columbia’s “vote anywhere” model.

Read the letter from the Attorney General to Elections BC: elections.bc.ca/docs/LTR_AG_CEO_VMOD-03072019.pdf

Attachments:
Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on Recommendations for Legislative Change – May 2018

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Contact:
Rebecca Penz
Director, Communications
Elections BC
Phone: 250-886-0806
Email: rebecca.penz@elections.bc.ca
Website: elections.bc.ca

Elections BC is an independent, non-partisan Office of the Legislature responsible for administering electoral processes in British Columbia in accordance with the Election Act, Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, Recall and Initiative Act and Referendum Act.