Quit or fired candidates: A caution on advanced polls

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You might have heard the advertisements as Elections BC is making a push for advanced polls, but there’s a caution.

As a convenience, you can vote at advanced polls in BC as soon as the writ drops.

And while everyone wants to be heard, what happens if you vote for someone ahead of general election day who quits or is fired from the campaign?

“Then your vote wouldn’t count,” explains Don Main with Elections BC. “Then you voted for someone who is no longer there.”

“You only get to vote once,” Main says when asked if there’s an opportunity to vote again if yours is essentially disqualified.

Less than two weeks into the campaign, already several candidates are out of the race. Those gone have been allegedly involved in mishaps ranging from offensive online postings to accusations of drinking and driving.

Are advanced polls fair?

The month-long campaign is meant for candidates to try and get their message out to you, ahead of you making a decision on election day. So is it fair to let people vote ahead of the general election, without any valid or approved reason like travel or a medical procedure?

Main doesn’t think so. “BC has the most accessible electoral process in the country, being able to vote from the day the writ is dropped to general voting day.  There’s actually four weeks of voting and that’s really great for the people of BC to have all of those opportunities to participate.”

UBC Political Scientist Max Cameron feels every effort should be made to get people to vote. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t accommodate people who, for whatever reason it is, whether it’s that they’re going in for surgery, they’re out of the country, or whether it’s simply more convenient for them to vote before so they don’t have to take the time off work, to let them do that.”

You can vote by mail or at an advanced voting place anytime before the May 14th general election.