B.C. advance voting drops ahead of Saturday election

Advance voting in British Columbia’s provincial election has closed with 891,348 ballots cast, down about 11 per cent from 2024, as the parties head into the final two days before general voting day on Saturday, Oct. 24.

The advance total from six days of voting, Friday through Wednesday, represents about 24 per cent of registered voters, The Canadian Press reported, citing Elections BC data. More than one million people voted early in 2024, when advance turnout jumped 49 per cent over the previous election.

The drop breaks a two-decade trend of rising advance turnout in B.C. This year’s advance period overlapped with the province’s municipal elections, which held their final voting day last Saturday.

Premier David Eby called the snap election in September. For voters who have not yet cast a ballot, our guide explains how to vote in the B.C. election.

Both main parties spent the final week chasing votes in Surrey, the province’s second-largest city, which has 10 ridings. Interim B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson unveiled what he called a “Surrey success plan” on Thursday, built on health care, transit and transportation, and scheduled a rally in the city for Thursday evening.

The NDP and the Conservatives have both promised new hospitals for Surrey and a SkyTrain extension to the Newton neighbourhood. They split on traffic: the Conservatives would scrap the planned upgrade of the George Massey Tunnel and build a 10-lane bridge instead.

Eby held a rally near Surrey city hall on Wednesday that drew hundreds of supporters. Campaigning in Vancouver on Thursday, he called Surrey “a vitally important city in the province.”

At a stop outside Vancouver General Hospital, surrounded by nurses and other health-care workers, Eby said an NDP government would write minimum nurse-to-patient ratios into law. He said setting the ratios is “technical work” that is already underway, and that the numbers would vary by type of care.

Putting the ratios in legislation would ensure “nurses are not diverted to other purposes,” Eby said. The NDP said in a statement that he has also committed to adding 1,000 training spaces for nurses, nurse practitioners, allied health workers and care aides.

The BC Greens, who earlier proposed a wealth tax on fortunes over $50 million, released an arts platform on Thursday. Leader Emily Lowan said underinvestment and the cost-of-living crisis have closed community arts spaces and squeezed artists.

The Greens said they would make B.C. the easiest place in North America to get a film permit, simplify zoning and cut fees for smaller venues that book local artists, and raise the BC Arts Council budget by more than 50 per cent to $65 million.

Polls open Saturday across the province. Elections BC posts voting place locations and hours on its website.

Sources: Elections BC advance voting data and campaign statements, via The Canadian Press; voting day details from Elections BC.

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