Election Day results continue to pour in for Cariboo North, and nearly half the ballot boxes have now been reported.
While the NDP is projected to form government, the B.C. Liberal candidate, Coralee Oakes, has an early edge in the riding’s Election Day ballots.
More than 4,000 people voted in advance polls in Cariboo North. With 27 of 55 ballot boxes reporting, Oakes leads NDP challenger Scott Elliott by 575 votes, according to Elections BC.
Less than 3,000 votes have been counted so far. Of that, Oakes has 50 per cent, and Elliott has 31 per cent. The B.C. Conservative candidate, Kyle Townsend, has 13 per cent, with Green Douglas Gook sitting at six per cent. Last election, the Greens and B.C. Conservatives combined for only 13 per cent of the votes in the riding.
Due to the pandemic, more British Columbians have decided to vote by mail-in ballot than ever before. Election results won’t be finalized until after Nov. 6., after those mail-in ballots are counted. An estimated 2,ooo mail-in ballots were requested by Elections BC within the Cariboo North riding. There are 21,960 registered voters in the region.
Across B.C., a total of 497,900 mail-in ballots were returned to Election BC, as of Friday, Oct. 23. There are roughly 3.5 million registered voters in the province.
B.C. VOTES 2020: Polls close in Quesnel
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