Elections BC says new technology will reduce voting waits, speed up counting

Elections BC is going high-tech, streamlining the upcoming election with technology it says will make voting faster and vote-counting much faster.

"(This technology) will provide better service to voters in British Columbia," said Anton Boegman, the province's chief electoral officer.

The system – first tested in byelections in 2022 – will be rolled out for the first time in a general election on Oct. 19.

It involves the use of laptops to check people in, comparing their ID to digital – rather than paper – voter rolls. Elections BC says maximum wait times will be five minutes.

Not only will the new system make voting faster, it's also going to make counting the ballots a lot faster, thanks to electronic tabulators that count ballots automatically, storing the data and removing the step of hand-counting after polls close.

With a few exceptions – primarily some mail-in ballots – Elections BC predicts 98 per cent of all votes cast will be reported within one hour of polls closing.

Any recounts would need to be done by hand. Still, it’s hoped that these new efficiencies will get people to the polls.

“I’m hoping that that may encourage more people to decide they’re going to cast their ballot,” said Boegman.

Turnout last time was a record low – just 53 per cent – which is part of a troubling trend.

“Elections are being decided by half the population; the party that wins, with half of that, so were getting a government that's been elected with roughly a quarter of the eligible voters,” notes Hamish Telford, political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley.

This time, without the constraints of a pandemic, and with a fierce and tight race, experts say participation could increase.

“Some voters – particularly Conservative voters – are really motivated right now, and so we may see voter turnout go up just because of those motivated Conservative voters,” said Telford Wednesday.

The new machines will roll out in time for the six advance voting days, starting Oct. 10.