B.C. election at a glance: Hand count for most votes due to snap call’s ‘logistics’

It’s the last full day of campaigning in British Columbia’s election ahead of final voting day Saturday.

Here’s a look at some of the latest developments on the campaign trail.

HAND COUNT FOR MOST BALLOTS

Elections BC has confirmed that votes cast on election day will be tallied manually, in a departure from 2024, when electronic tabulators were used to count paper ballots for the first time in a general election.

That was hailed as a success in Elections BC’s report on the polls, but the agency says in a statement that it’s going back to a manual count due to “short time frames and complex operational logistics of a snap election.”

It says paper ballots cast at advance polling stations and at district electoral offices will still be counted with electronic tabulators, and it expects those results to be reported first after ballots close at 8 p.m.

Elections BC also says the election-night count will not include absentee or mail-in ballots, which will be tallied at the final count scheduled for Nov. 6 to Nov. 10.

Elections BC’s report on the 2024 election says electronic tabulation allowed the first preliminary results to be reported within five minutes of polls closing, and 59 per cent of preliminary results to reported within half an hour.

It said that in past elections first results typically started to be reported around 45 minutes after polls closed.

DOERKSON RALLIES WITH CLARK AND MCCALLUM

The B.C. Conservatives held a rally in Surrey on Thursday night, with mayor-elect Doug McCallum endorsing Lorne Doerkson as the province’s next premier.

Also present at the rally were former B.C. premier Christy Clark, and former Surrey mayors Linda Hepner and Dianne Watts.

McCallum told the rally that he was standing with people who had changed Surrey and it was time to change B.C.

The 82-year-old McCallum is about to embark on his third separate stint as Surrey’s mayor, after defeating incumbent Brenda Locke in the Oct. 17 municipal elections.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.


Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press