Vancouver man raises concerns over misplaced transit plebiscite ballots

A Vancouver man is raising concerns about the potential for voting fraud in the transit plebiscite after receiving a ballot addressed to a previous tenant.

Terry Osti says in addition to a ballot in his own name, he also received a ballot addressed to the previous owner of his home, who has now moved to Ontario.

Osti is concerned because all that’s required to verify one’s identity on the ballot are a signature and date of birth, both of which, he says, are easy to forge.

“It would be very easy for someone to fraudulently fill it out and submit it,” says Osti. “It makes me wonder how valid this whole process is.”

But Elections BC says only the person to whom the voting package is addressed can use it.

Communications manager Don Main told Global News there is a verification process in place to confirm the authenticity of the ballot.

“If someone has received a ballot that’s for someone else, we receive that information back and it is not absolutely correct, that’s a flag for us. We will set that ballot aside and it will not be counted,” says Main.

Main says if they see evidence that someone is trying to vote more than once or vote fraudulently, they will consider launching a criminal investigation.

He says, should anyone receive a misplaced ballot, they can either destroy it or mail it back to Elections BC with a note saying that the resident no longer lives at the address.

The ballots started to arrive in Metro Vancouver mailboxes earlier this week.

The ballot gives more than 1.5 million eligible voters the option of paying 0.5 per cent sales tax in exchange for a vastly upgraded rapid transit system, hundreds more buses, additional ferries and a new bridge.

Metro Vancouver residents have until May 29 to submit their vote.