Today was election day in B.C., and many of you cast a ballot for who you want to see represent you in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding for the next four years.
The polls have now closed, and today’s numbers are in.
While final results will be for some time to come, here are some of the preliminary numbers as of almost midnight on Saturday.
RELATED: NDP’s Beare defends her seat in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
With 96 of the 98 ballot boxes counted, NDP’s incumbent Lisa Beare was out in front by almost 3,500 votes. She had 9,324 votes or 61 per cent of the vote, compare to her lone competitor, Liberal Cheryl Ashlie who received 6,019 (or 39 per cent of the votes).
Early in the evening, just after 9 p.m., Canadian Press painted the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding with an orange brush, saying NDP were forerunners and clearly expected to win.
RELATED: B.C.’s snap election means 700k ballots will be counted manually, delaying results
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LOCAL CANDIDATE PROFILES AND Q&As
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding
Liberal Candidate Cheryl Ashlie
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Maple Ridge-Mission riding
Liberal Candidate Chelsa Meadus
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RELATED: At least 26% of registered voters have already cast their ballot, Elections BC says
FINAL RESULTS DELAYED
Due to the ongoing 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, when those mail-in ballots are counted.
This means that tonight’s election results may change.
An estimated 9,018 mail-in ballots were requested by Elections BC within the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding. There are a little more than 45,000 registered voters in the region.
Across B.C., a total of 478,900 mail-in ballots were returned to Election BC, as of Friday, Oct. 23.
There are roughly 3.5 million registered voters in the province.
Here is where you can find vote-by-mail numbers and registered voter numbers by riding: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/2020-vote-by-mail-statistics.pdf
RELATED: Early turnout breaks records as more than a million people vote ahead of B.C. election
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IN PAST
In the last provincial election held in the riding of Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, there were 27,059 votes cast of the 41,951 eligible registered voters. That translated to a 45 per cent voter turn out. There were 173 of those ballots rejected.
Of the valid ballots, NDP Lisa Beare garnered 45 per cent or 12,045 of those votes, ensuring the New Democrats took the riding from former Liberal MLA Doug Bing.
RELATED: NDP sweeps Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Mission
She was trailed by incumbent Liberal’s Doug Bing, who received 10,428 or 39 per cent.
The rest of the votes were split up between the Conservative’s Gary O’Driscoll with 676, Green Party’s Alex Pope taking 3,329, and independent Steve Ranta receiving 408.
RELATED: Millennials’ voter turnout in 2017 B.C. election up 7%
– with files from CP
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