Didn’t get a PR referendum ballot? Friday is your last chance

Voters who haven’t received a ballot for B.C.’s referendum on proportional representation are running out of time if they plan to participate.

The deadline to request a voting package from Elections BC is midnight on Friday, Nov. 23.

Packages can be requested online, by phone at 1-800-661-8683, or in person at a Service BC Centre or Referendum Service Office.

“As we approach the deadline in the referendum period, our message to voters is to act as soon as they can,” said Elections BC spokesperson Andrew Watson.

“We are expediting outgoing mail as much as possible, but the in-person opportunities available are a great option as well.”

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Packages requested by phone or online will be mailed or couriered to voters, but by the time they arrive, those voters may not have much time to fill them in and return them.

Watson said ballots that voters put in the mail this week should arrive at Elections BC by the referendum deadline of next Friday.

But he said voters who are returning their packages next week may wish to drop them off in person at a Service BC Centre or Referendum Service Office to ensure they are received in time.

“There’s a lot of variation of how long it would take to reach us throughout the province, and of course the postal strike has complicated things,” he said.

“We have to receive completed packages by Nov. 30, and that’s the deadline for Elections BC to receive the voting package, not for voters to put it in the mail.”

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Watson said with the ongoing Canada Post strike, the agency is considering extending that deadline, but that no firm decision has been made yet.

Voters are being asked if they wish to keep the current system of electing politicians, known as first-past-the-post, or a system of proportional representation where a party’s share of seats in the legislature closely tracks its share of the popular vote.

As of Thursday morning, Elections BC had received about 900,000 completed voting packages, representing about 27 per cent of registered voters.