![New technology, ridings to be in place for 2024 B.C. provincial election](https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/1605/files/2024/02/elections-bc-brochure.png)
Photo via Elections BC
Elections BC says it will be using new technology during the Oct. 19 provincial election, in a bid to make the entire voting process more efficient.
Senior Director of Communications Andrew Watson says this fall’s election is going to be the first one conducted under the modernized Election Act in B.C., that allows the use of more technology.
He says election workers at the polling stations across the province will be using laptops to manage the voters list electronically instead of doing it by hand.
“We have used that in past provincial by-elections, but this is the first time we’re using that in a general election,” Watson told Radio NL.
“Managing the voters list electronically helps us ensure that voters only vote once of course but also lets us provide better service. We’ve seen it reduce lineups and help us provide better service to voters during the election.”
Watson also says this will be the first general election in B.C. where electronic tabulators are used to count paper ballots.
“It’s a proven accurate method for counting paper ballots, and they do help us report results quickly after the polls close,” Watson said. “So in the by-elections that we’ve run, we had almost all the results done within an hour of the polls closing. Typically in the past, that is when we just start to see results come in.”
Electronic tabulators have been used in municipal elections in B.C. and in general elections in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
Six new ridings being added
There will be six new ridings this year – one each in Burnaby, Surrey, Langley, and Vancouver in the Lower Mainland, one in the Langford area on Vancouver Island, and one near Kelowna in the Interior – taking the total to 93.
“We are proposing no changes to the names or boundaries of 15 existing electoral districts. That leaves 72 existing ridings whose boundaries we propose to adjust,” a report from the B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission last April said.
“Many of these changes are attributable to the six new electoral districts.”
The City of Kamloops will be split into two ridings – a new Kamloops-Centre riding and a redrawn Kamloops-North Thompson riding.
The communities of Barriere, Clearwater, Prichard, and Chase will be part of Kamloops-North Thompson, while Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Cherry Creek, Tobiano, and Savona will be moved into a redrawn Cariboo-Chilcotin riding.
The Fraser-Nicola riding will be redrawn to include the communities of Harrison Hot Springs and Kent, while still including Hope, Lytton, Merritt and Lillooet, while the communities of Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Enderby, and Armstrong will be part of the Salmon Arm-Shuswap riding.
Elections BC has launched a new online portal where people can put in their address to learn the name and boundaries of their new riding. Those new ridings will come into effect when the election is called, with that declaration expected to happen on Sept. 21.
Watson says Elections BC will also mail a brochure to every residential address that will give people a map of the new electoral districts in their region. The new brochure will also outline the new technology that will be in place for this election, with people expected to get theirs by the end of March.
In the meantime, Watson is encouraging people to make sure their voter registration is up to date, so that people get updates from Elections BC including information about where, when and how to vote once the writ is dropped.
For more information about the upcoming provincial election, go here.