Elections BC has granted 39 voters an extension in the harmonized sales tax referendum after they did not receive a ballot by the Aug. 5 mail-in deadline.
Phone records show each individual had tried to request a voting package from Elections BC within the proper timeline, spokesman Don Main told ctvbc.ca.
"There was an error made either by Elections BC or a service provider, and these voters were unable to deliver their ballot to a service centre by the close of voting," Main said.
Elections BC's chief electoral officer issued an order to extend the deadline for the 39 voters until 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 19th. No other extensions will be granted, Main said.
Voters who did not receive a ballot, or had lost or damaged the one they were delivered, were able to contact the Elections BC service centre by midnight on Friday, July 22 to request another.
The toll-free number was called more than 87,000 times between June 13 and Aug. 5, but Main said many calls were from voters updating their registration or who had questions about the tax itself.
"A lot of them were people asking about the HST, about issues about the HST, so we were redirecting those calls for voters," Main said.
The number of calls reporting missing voting packages is unknown, but Elections BC issued more than 19,000 replacement ballots.
More than 1.6 million British Columbians voted in the referendum, according to early numbers released last week, which is about the same number who voted in the 2009 provincial election.
The results are expected to be released on or before Aug. 25.
