the broken typewriter

When British Columbia voters head to the polls next month, they will see a few changes from earlier provincial elections as Elections BC streamlines the voting process, following changes made to BC’s election legislation in 2019 and 2023.

This year, instead of looking up and crossing voters’ names off on a paper list, Elections BC volunteers will be using networked laptops to look up voters and cross them off the voters list. Elections BC says this process will reduce line-ups, will make the voting process more efficient and make it easier for voters to vote at any polling place.

It will also ensure that people only vote once.

The ballots will also be somewhat different. There will still be paper ballots and voters select the candidate of their choice by putting an X in the circle next to the name, however, the privacy of the voting process has been improved.

Ballots will now include a secrecy folder, which is to be folded back over the ballot once the voter has voted, rather than simply folding the ballot up.

Also, electronic tabulators are being used this time, to speed up the counting of ballots. They are not voting machines, rather they count the voter-marked paper ballots and provide results on a paper results tape. The paper ballots will be kept after they have been counted, in case a re-count is necessary.

In previous elections, the absentee and mail-in ballots couldn’t be counted until final count, which took place approximately two weeks after election day. The delay was necessary to complete the required manual, paper-based checks to verify that the voters who cast the ballots were eligible to vote, and that they had only voted once.

For example, if someone votes at a voting place outside of their electoral district, Elections BC can print a ballot listing the candidates from their electoral district. The tabulator counts the ballot when it is cast, and that vote is included in the results reported on election night.

Thanks to the electronic tabulators, which are installed on top of the ballot boxes, 98 percent of all ballots will be counted on election night.

The technology is also expected to help voters with disabilities such loss of vision. Elections BC says that an Accessible Voting System will be available in every electoral district office. Voters will have the choice of listening to an audio recording of the candidate list and cast their vote using a hand-held selector device, sip-and-puff straws or paddles. Voters using this system will be able to mark their ballot independently and know that their choice will be counted accurately.

Electronic tabulators won’t be connected to the internet, to prevent hacking, and physical access to tabulators will be limited to elections officials and controlled through a chain of custody process.

Voter-marked paper ballots are still the gold standard in elections because a paper ballot cannot be hacked.

For more information about how tabulators will be used in the 2024 General Election, check out the Guide to Voting and Counting.