Over 800 special ballots mistakenly kept in B.C. riding, Elections Canada says

The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 07, 2025 6:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

More than 800 peculiar ballots formed during the caller national predetermination were mistakenly kept astatine the bureau of a returning serviceman in B.C., Elections Canada says.

The bureau says each registered governmental parties person been informed that 822 peculiar ballots formed by electors successful 74 electoral districts crossed the state were near with the returning serviceman successful the riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.

Elections Canada says the ballots should person been returned to its office by April 28 astatine 6 p.m. to let them to beryllium counted.

Special ballots see votes made by message and those formed successful idiosyncratic astatine an Elections Canada office.

Over 500 of the ballots mistakenly near successful Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam were for the electoral territory of Port Moody-Coquitlam.

Others were for ridings crossed the country, including Halifax, Nepean and Vancouver Centre.

Elections Canada says an archetypal investigation shows that the outcomes successful those 74 districts were not affected by the mislaid ballots.

In Port Moody-Coquitlam, the Liberal Party's Zoe Royer was projected elected with 27,074 votes, beating Conservative campaigner Paul Lambert, who had 25,126 votes.

The bureau says its archetypal investigation showed that the occupation was caused by "human error" and "a nonaccomplishment to comply with the written procedures."

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault has asked for a implicit reappraisal of the controls successful spot to guarantee that a akin concern does not hap again, Elections Canada says.

"My committedness to candidates, governmental parties and Canadians is that erstwhile issues related to the transportation of an predetermination arise, we instrumentality each indispensable steps to resoluteness them," Perrault said successful a quality release.