Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
That was one thing I thought was dumb about the recent BC election. In the ridings that were too close too call after the voting, it was like damn, I guess we are going to have to count those early votes because they might actually make a difference. I wondered why they didn't do that before hand and then they could add them immediately.
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They did count them. The only ones left uncounted on election night were ones that needed verification that the person didn't vote twice which fit into 2 categories:
1) Mail-in ballots received on election day. It would be trivial to vote by mail and then go in on election day to vote in person. So any mail in ballots received at the last minute were held back to verify that the same person didn't show up at a polling station. Mail-in ballots received before election day had already been processed so polling places knew those people had voted already.
2) Ballots where people voted outside their district at a polling place in more remote locations that aren't tied into the main elections database. Again, if you voted in one of those places, you could also show up in your own district and vote there too. And once the votes are in the ballot box, there's no way to undo that, so ones that fit the criteria are held back until they could be transported to each district and cross-referenced against a list of names of people who had already voted.
It's just that when you have a bunch of seats that are super close, a few hundred ballots in each district that fit that criteria can make a difference.