National Post- Box of 861 votes went uncounted in B.C. election, other ballots unreported, officials say
Elections BC says omission of the ballot box did not affect the result in Prince George-Mackenzie, while the unreported votes in Surrey-Guildford were discovered last week during preparations for a judicial recount in the riding, where Garry Begg’s 27-vote victory propelled the New Democrats to a one-seat majority government.
“Discovered” implies that they lost control of either the counting process and logging, or they lost the ballot box.
Either way, it doesn’t say much for their competency.
Box 13, calling box 13!!
I think there is a section of the electoral paperwork to fill out which indicates how many ballots were handed out, and how many ballots were counted, in each polling station and at the constituency level as well.
So they would have known if there was a discrepancy between these two totals at the final count.
The alternative is to know that 861 ballots were “eaten” at the polling station, and were thusly unaccounted for.
It’s a federal crime to “eat your ballot” … however as in all federal cases of possible criminal behavoir it’s well known that if you simply buy a #Librano Party of Canada membership you can just about get away cleanly from a wide selection of crimes.
CBC link here…
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hungry-for-change-voter-eats-ballot-1.514302
Incompetence, corruption, malfeasance, etc. But it never affects the outcome!
Because the outcome is preordained and the election is just for show
Normally the poll workers at each poll count and reconcile the ballots. There is no room for error. All the ballots should have been in the ballot box until counted. There is no room to misplace any. In urban areas there are multiple polls at each polling place but each one is counted and reconciled independently. Sounds like shenanigans were happening. Maybe BC doesn’t follow standard Canadian practice. If they don’t we would have to ask why.
It’s been a number of years since I had been a election scrutineer or poll clerk, but that is a fully accurate description.
You are spot on.
Translation: “Missing ballot boxes have no affect on election results”