MORE DETAILS are emerging as Elections BC, the non-partisan agency which conducts provincial elections, assembles what it needs to conduct a mail-in referendum on the HST.
The mail-in referendum is to replace a September poll station referendum.
According to a timeline released last week, Elections BC starts mailing out referendum ballots for the HST to all registered voters on June 12.
The expectation is that the majority of British Columbians will have received their ballots by June 24.
July 8 is the last day for unregistered voters to request a ballot from Elections BC.
July 22 is the last day for completed ballots to be received by mail at Elections BC’s office or delivered in person to a Service BC centre.
British Columbians who are not registered voters for a provincial election, or who have moved since the last election and have not updated their voter record, will need to request a ballot from Elections BC.
It will take several weeks for Elections BC to count the ballots.
Results of the vote are expected in August.
The referendum question will be:
“Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST (Goods and Services Tax)? Yes/No.”
Petitions circulated in every riding last year and resulted in enough signatures to put the question to a referendum.
