Polls? In My Province? TODAY? It’s More Likely Than You Think
Image via: Elections BC / Instagram (@electionsbc)
10.19.24| News | Vol. 56, No. 2 | Article
The seasons are shifting, the leaves are changing colour, it’s raining household pets, and the days grow ever shorter. Classes on VIU’s campus are in full swing. Fall is in the air, and before we know it winter, too, will be upon us.
But something else is in the air too. Can you smell it? If I’m not mistaken, I believe that is the fast-approaching, stomach-turning stench of provincial electoral politics.
For the first time since 2020, British Columbians will be heading to their local polling stations as the coming election is slated for October 19, 2024.
So, eat a light lunch, do your research, make sure you’re registered to vote, and head to your local polling stations—or don’t. Who am I to tell you what to do? I can’t promise you that any of this even counts for anything in the end. My job is to report the news, and your job is to read it.
You are reading it, aren’t you?
2020’s provincial election saw the NDP toppling the Liberals to win a majority government, a first for the BC New Democrats since 1996.
Meanwhile, the Greens stood their ground in familiar territory, holding two of the three ridings they had previously won in the 2017 election.
And then there’s the British Columbia Liberal Party.
To put it lightly, BC’s 2020 general election was a political catastrophe for the Liberals, who lost 15 seats and over 160k votes despite a seemingly strong showing three years prior.
To make matters worse, in the time since their most recent defeat at the hands of the NDP, the Liberals have forced a rebrand to BC United in an effort to distance themselves from the confusingly unaffiliated federal Liberal party.
Furthermore is the necromantic revival of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, who will now run a full slate of candidates in BC for the first time since 1960(!).
The Conservatives completely disappeared from provincial politics, despite nearly two decades of majority rule under Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark—names that sound like political ghosts at this point.
They subsequently dropped out of the coming election entirely, ceding political opposition of the NDP to the surging Tories, the latter bolstered by a number of former Liberal party members crossing the floor in unprecedented fashion.
In four short years, the BC Liberals—oh, sorry, BC United—have gone from political contenders to absent on the ballot this fall.
So where does that leave us, the people?
For the coming election, there are only three major parties of note that British Columbians need to know.
The BC NDP are the current majority government seeking re-election. The party has been headed by Premier David Eby since 2023, after its previous leader John Horgan stepped down following renewed health concerns and a second battle with cancer.
The newest challengers, the Conservative Party of British Columbia, are fronted by former BC Liberal MLA John Rustad who joined after being expelled from the Liberal caucus for climate change denialism in 2022.
And finally, the ever-resilient Green Party, led by Cowichan Valley’s own Sonia Furstenau. They’re just happy to be involved.
And as if there wasn’t already enough excitement building, the disappearance of the Liberals and rise of the Conservatives isn’t the only thrilling new development in this fall’s race. The election will also mark the arrival of several key changes to the voting process.
Back in 2022, the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission recommended the addition of six new ridings to address the Lower Mainland’s rapid population growth, bringing the total seats up to 93 and the number needed to secure a majority up to 47.
With this change, a restructuring of the electoral districts was also finalized, changing the layout or make-up of a majority of the province’s ridings.
The province has also launched the implementation of more advanced technology into the voting process. By “more advanced,” we mean a shift toward electronics instead of paper.
These upgrades will help track voter lists, aid in counting and reporting ballots, assist in reaching voters with disabilities, and expedite the mail-in ballot system—each change greatly speeding up not only the process of voting but of finalizing the election.
Elections BC Voting Card. It’s paper. Don’t forget yours.
courtesy of: Tianna Vertigan / The Nav
A month ago, it looked as if the race was shaping up to be a coin flip between the NDP and the Conservatives, with the Greens just hoping to gain some valuable seats in a rapidly shifting political landscape.
But a lot can change in a month, and politics are always unpredictable.
So for Pete’s sake, if you do plan on voting, please just don’t make any crazy choices that could possibly set off a series of initially small reactions that gradually increase in size and scale, eventually shaking the foundation on which we stand to its very core, almost certainly leading to the absolute degradation of our human rights and irreversible destruction of the natural world that we so desperately depend on.
But, hey, no pressure. It’s just electoral politics. What’s the worst that could happen?
Do whatever you want—vote, don’t vote, write-in your cool uncle Todd who you think is exactly what BC needs right now, or just read The Nav instead.
Whatever you choose to do, we’ll be here.
Lee is a writer, poet, and fourth-year Creative Writing and Journalism student at VIU. When he’s not writing for The Nav, Lee can be found dissociating at his day job, daydreaming at home, getting lost in a good book, or counting the stars in the sky.