Polls have officially closed across the province, and the wait begins to see who will be the next MLA in Cariboo North and who will be the next B.C. premier.
Called in September by B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, BC Votes 2020 is likely going to be one for the history books, already seeing a number of records broken when it comes to voter turnout.
Roughly 681,000 people cast their ballot during the seven days of advanced voting that ended Wednesday, compared to 614,389 in 2017.
Meanwhile, 478,900 returned vote-by-mail packages had been received by Elections BC by Oct. 22, representing 66 per cent of the packages requested.
In the Cariboo North electoral district — which stretches out west to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, south to (but not including) Williams Lake, and east, including Wells, Horsefly and Likely — well over 4,400 people voted in advance polling this year, according to Elections BC. During the 2017 election, 3,707 people voted early, with three additional polling locations.
District Electoral Officer Wayne Robier added around 2,000 vote-by-mail packages have been requested by residents in Cariboo North.
There are 21,960 registered voters in the riding, according to Elections BC.
These voters had four choices during this election: Scott Elliott for the NDP, Douglas Gook for the Green Party, Coralee Oakes for the Liberals and Kyle Townsend for the Conservatives.
It is expected that some ridings will see preliminary results as to which candidate will likely take a seat in the B.C. Legislature by the end of day Saturday. Meanwhile, close races will have to wait until mid-November for the winner to be declared, once mail-in ballots are counted by Elections BC officials after Nov. 6.
Follow along at quesnelobserver.com and the Quesnel Cariboo Observer Facebook page for updates throughout the evening.
– with files from Ashley Wadhwani and Cassidy Dankochik
READ MORE: B.C. Votes 2020: Cariboo North advance voting up in 2020
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