Mail-in Ballots in high demand

Oct 2, 2020 | 3:03 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – On October 24th, British Columbians will be heading to the polls. But hundreds of thousands will be voting by mail, courtesy COVID-19.

As of today, Elections BC has received 494,000 requests for mail-in ballots. That is significantly higher than the last election when 6,500 mail-in ballots were issued.

For UNBC Political Scientist, Jason Morris, having access to that form of vote may even increase voter participation.

“The challenges are simply administrative in terms of getting all those ballots filled out correctly and sent in and then counted not just accurately but also efficiently so that British Columbians know within a reasonable amount of time who the next government of the province is.”

He believes Canadians have been looking for alternative ways of voting and mail-in is just one of them. In fact, the federal government has been looking at the feasibility of online voting, despite concerns about hacking and tampering.

“There’s no guarantee that any electoral system is going to be 100% foolproof,” says Morris. “The fact of the matter is, we buy couches and underwear online through Amazon and other sources with little to no concern about handing over our credit card information. There’s no reason we can’t overcome privacy issues for casting a ballot.”

Mail-in ballots can be ordered until October 17th by going to www.elections.bc.ca, phoning 1-800-661-8683, or visiting one of the two local Electoral Offices. The one for Prince George-Mackenzie is located at 212-100 S. Tabor Boulevard and the office for Prince George-Valemount is located at 1511 3rd Avenue.