Elections BC has approved requests for recounts in two B.C. ridings, but denied requests in four other regions.
Tuesday's provincial election saw close races in several ridings and six candidates filed formal requests for recounts, elections officials said in a statement Saturday.
Candidates can request recounts of some or all of the ballots within three days of voting day, under the province's Election Act. Requests are accepted if the difference between candidates is within 100 votes, if votes were not correctly accepted or rejected, or if a ballot account doesn't accurately record the number of votes for a candidate.
Recounts will take place between May 22 and May 24, as part of the final count which also includes absentee ballots.
Two of the requests were filed for Vancouver False Creek, a riding not decided until late on election night. The riding went to Liberal Sam Sullivan, who had 42.6 per cent of 21,923 votes cast.
NDP candidate Morgane Oger asked for a recount after losing to Sullivan by 560 votes, but her request was denied by Elections BC. However, another request for the same riding, filed by BC Citizens First Party candidate Phillip James Ryan was approved.
Staff at Elections BC could not be reached on Saturday for more information, but a statement issued by officials said Ryan's request was approved because the number of votes recorded in the ballot account was 403, but there were only 399 votes on the tally sheet.
A spokesperson for the CFP told CTV News that Oger had filed her request for the same reason – voter irregularity – and will not concede until the results of the recount are known.
Also approved was a request filed by Liberal candidate Jim Benninger, who lost his riding of Courtenay-Comox by only nine votes. The NDP's Ronna-Rae Leonard claimed the riding Tuesday with 10,058 votes.
If the results of the recount still show a difference of less than 1/500 of the total ballots counted – about 55 votes in the Courtenay-Comox riding – the District Electoral Officer must then apply to the Supreme Court of B.C. for a judicial recount.
NDP candidate Jodie Wickens, of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, also applied for a recount in her riding after losing to Liberal Joan Isaacs by 170 votes, but her request was denied.
Another riding with close results was Maple Ridge-Mission, where Liberal Marc Dalton asked for a recount. He lost to NDP candidate Bob D'Eith by 120 votes, so a recount was not approved. Richmond-Queensborough NDP candidate Aman Singh lost to Liberal Jas Johal by 263 votes, and his application for a recount was also denied.
Find out how your riding voted on CTV Vancouver's election results page.
