Some voters in Victoria and Saanich who registered for mail-in ballots did not receive their ballots, and the two neighbouring municipality’s different responses is causing confusion for voters.
In Victoria, miscommunication with Canada Post resulted in 2,300 mail-in ballots not being sent out to voters until it was too late for them to be returned in time for the election.
As a result, Victoria allowed anyone who registered for mail-in ballots to instead vote in person.
READ MORE: Most of Victoria’s mail-in ballots will not arrive in time, city says
“If you recently placed your completed mail ballot in the mail and are concerned the City won’t receive it in time, please vote in person,” the City of Victoria said in a news release on Oct. 13.
“Your vote will only be counted once in the system. If you have voted in person and then receive your ballot in the mail, please dispose of it.”
In neighbouring Saanich, however, the district is saying that anyone who registered for mail-in voting cannot change to voting in person.
“The District of Saanich is adhering to its elections procedures policy in regard to mail ballots. As part of this process, when an elector chooses to vote by mail ballot, they are advised that they are foregoing the right to vote by another method,” the district said in an email to CHEK News.
“This an important safeguard of the elections process that helps protect the integrity of the results by ensuring each eligible elector votes only once.”
READ MORE: Saanich woman to miss voting for first time ever after mail-in ballot never arrives
David Black, associate professor at Royal Roads University, says the difference stems from the fact that each municipality is charged with running their own election.
“In municipal elections, all the muni’s, all the communities run their their own elections. So Elections BC is not here to referee in the way they are at the provincial level,” Black said.
“That means municipalities, large and small, sometimes with very limited resources, are having to do a very complex thing and and aspire to be letter perfect about that. The differences between Saanich and Victoria in terms of how they manage mail-in ballots leads to some confusion.”
Black says voters could also be frustrated if they lose out on their right to vote if they registered for mail-in ballots that never arrived.
“Voting is a sacred act, and people take it very personally. It’s the primary way in which the average person participates in local politics, and so to have done the work and mailed in your ballot and have it not count, or have some confusion around how to manage the mail-in ballot, is going to leave people feeling quite distressed, quite heartbroken with respect to their ballot not mattering.”
Black says this could also make a difference in the election, as some of the races could be quite close on the South Island.
“In 11 of the 13 municipalities here on South Island, to varying degrees competitive mail races, and so where one vote doesn’t matter at the provincial level, typically, it’s not going to change the outcome in terms of who forms government. A few votes matter at at the civic level.”