BC has held 43 elections between 1871 and 2020.
For 42 of those, HAND COUNTS were used.
The 2024 election was the first when electronic tabulators were used.
Use both. Electronic tabulator & hand count.
Ensure they match.
Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal elections are NOT secure.
✅Besides mail-in voting, telephone voting is used in many provinces and municipalities. Telephone voting.
✅Vouching. NO ID IS NEEDED if someone at the polling station can 'vouch' for you. This is at the federal level & many provinces, including BC allow it.
People have taken video of being given permission to vote several times in different districts using this method. But, stopped short of actually doing so to not break the law.
✅Under Option 2, accepted voter ID include hospital identity bracelets, prescription labels, library cards, utility bills, and many other items that do not prove citizenship. Residents can get these and have received invitations to vote.
✅A couple years ago, then BC Conservative leader John Rustad stated that his team had cleaned NON-citizens and DEAD PEOPLE from the voter list in 2005, only to see the same names magically reappear before the 2009 election. Even he had an issue with mail in ballots & called for an independent review. Especially after 861 uncounted votes and other irregularities.
That fully arm's length independent review never happened.
✅For the past 3 elections, CSIS and RCMP have confirmed that China has interfered in federal elections. More if you include Provincial & municipal elections.
✅In previous provincial elections, unused ballots and sealed ballot boxes were TAKEN HOME overnight by election officials in rural areas during advance voting.
More secure & rigorous models should be followed.
Look at Taiwan. Vote in person, paper ballots, proof of citizenship, small precinct counts, each ballot is held up & announced so observers can see it.
The public and media are allowed to photograph and film the entire count from designated areas.
Machine count must match hand count.
Canada should emulate most of these.
If absentee voting is included, ensure it is strict - require proof of citizenship with documents that only citizens, not simply residents can obtain.
If the objection is cost, the reply is simple.
Protecting election integrity, deterring foreign interference, and recording the will of the people accurately is PRICELESS.