Surrey voter shocked to discover her advance vote didn’t count

As Canadians prepare to cast a ballot in the the country’s 42nd federal election tomorrow, one Surrey, B.C. voter will have to cast hers again.

Heather Bell was among millions who voted in the advance polls, but now it turns out her vote didn’t count.

“I wanted to vote early because I have to work on Monday and I didn’t want to take time off,” she said.

Originally, Bell went to the Elections Canada office in White Rock B.C., but she received a knock at her door on Saturday morning.

She was told her vote didn’t count. She had apparently gone to the wrong Elections Canada office even though she had shown her voter card and driver’s license, both listing her address, she was not told she was at the wrong place.

Still in shock, Bell called Elections Canada to ask how this could happen and was told there was such an increase in the number of advance voters that the computers kept timing out. She was given the wrong local voting card.

Technically, voters were allowed to cast a ballot at any election office outside their riding by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Those votes are counted towards the person’s registered riding.

Global News asked Elections Canada how widespread were the computer and staffing issues.

“I don’t have an answer for you,” said Dorothy Sitek, an Elections Canada spokesperson. “We believe that everything has been processed correctly, we have all the resources in place.”

Elections Canada believes this is an isolated case, saying issues like this are caught in the thorough counting process.

Just in case, Bell will have to swear an oath stating her next vote is the only one that counts.

-With files from Johh Hua