Requests for vote-by-mail packages surged in the Greater Victoria area, with general voting day rapidly approaching on October 24.
Statistics from Elections BC released on October 13 say that an estimated 699,000 registered voters have requested a vote-by-mail package.
Included in that statistic is a large proportion of the population in the seven ridings within Greater Victoria.
Of the seven ridings’ total of 312,796 registered voters, just over 30 per cent have requested a vote-by-mail package.
Elections BC had earlier predicted that roughly one-in-three voters would use the vote-by-mail option.
The full statistical breakdown of vote-by-mail requests for Greater Victoria’s seven ridings is:
- Esquimalt-Metchosin: 41,312 registered voters, 11,667 packages requested
- Langford-Juan de Fuca: 47,552 registered voters, 11,608 packages requested
- Oak Bay-Gordon Head 42,385 registered voters, 15,073 packages requested
- Saanich North and the Islands: 50,488 registered voters, 15,512 packages requested
- Saanich South: 41,697 registered voters, 13,704 packages requested
- Victoria-Beacon Hill: 48,772 registered voters, 17,468 packages requested
- Victoria-Swan Lake: 40,590 registered voters, 12,302 packages requested
Vote-by-mail packages can be requested by anyone, right up until general voting day on October 24.
However, Elections BC recommends that people request their package by October 17, as they will stop allowing requests online or through the Elections BC contact centre at 8 p.m. that day.
Completed packages must be received by Elections BC by 8 p.m. on October 24 in order to be counted.
More information on vote-by-mail, including the online request portal, is available here: elections.bc.ca/voting/how-to-vote-by-mail
