Bulk of missing federal election ballots were from Port Moody-Coquitlam

Of the 822 special ballots that weren’t counted in the recent federal election, the majority were cast by voters in the Port Moody-Coquitlam riding.

A total of 530 Port Moody-Coquitlam ballots were among the votes left in the Henderson Place Mall office of the Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam returning officer. The ballots weren’t returned to Elections Canada headquarters by the April 28 deadline.

Elections Canada attributed the failure to turn in the ballots to: “human error and a failure to comply with the written procedures.”

Asked why so many ballots were from the neighbouring Port Moody-Coquitlam riding, Elections Canada’s media relations team explained that it was an issue of proximity.

“Given Port Moody—Coquitlam is adjacent to the Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam electoral district, electors frequenting the mall would have seen the Elections Canada signage and likely opted to register to vote by special ballot in the office,” the team stated in an email to the Dispatch.

The special ballots were cast by voters from 74 electoral districts mainly across B.C., including 33 votes from New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville.

A review of procedures has been ordered by chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault to ensure a similar mistake doesn’t occur.

“My commitment to candidates, political parties and Canadians is that when issues related to the delivery of an election arise, we take all necessary steps to resolve them,” Perrault stated in a press release.

The procedural review will be undertaken in the months to come, the media team confirmed.

Liberal candidate Zoe Royer won in Port Moody-Coquitlam, edging Conservative Paul Lambert by 1,948 votes.

A total of 62,604 votes were cast in the riding, including 408 rejected ballots.