*** Neuvote: Background on B.C.'s 2026 Election ***
Tabulator Supplier Neuvote Systems Inc. is the Canadian company supplying ballot tabulators for B.C.'s 2026 provincial general election. Its tabulators will count advance, district electoral office and special voting ballots at initial count on October 24, and absentee and mail-in ballots at final count in November. Ballots cast on Final Voting Day at assigned voting places will be counted by hand.
For the 2024 election, Elections BC obtained tabulators through Elections Ontario's tabulator lease program. It then ran a competitive RFP, and Neuvote was the successful vendor. BC Bid lists the resulting contract, "Leasing of Vote-Counting Equipment," as awarded on February 24, 2026, with a value of $13,454,000, a figure that includes the estimated value of any options to extend or renew. Elections BC says Neuvote will supply tabulators for the next two provincial general elections.
Elections BC describes Neuvote as headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, and says it has supported provincial and municipal elections in Canada since 2017. Neuvote's own website says the company was founded in 2015 by Matthew Heuman, its CEO. The website presents online voting, election management and civic engagement software. It lists vote tabulators among its services but does not name a model or manufacturer.
Elections BC's Tabulator Officer guide, dated August 2026, pictures a Smartmatic-branded tabulator. The Smartmatic name and logo appear on the casing and the touchscreen, and a label reads SAES-1800.
Public records of Neuvote's earlier work include a 2020 brief to a House of Commons committee proposing a remote voting system for MPs. In 2022 the Township of Ignace, Ontario (population 1,202) used online voting provided by Neuvote in partnership with Smartmatic. Smartmatic says the township used its TIVI online voting platform. Online voting was the only voting option, and 725 online ballots were cast. A peer-reviewed study says it was the vendor's first time offering the service in a Canadian municipal election. In January 2026 the King Weekly Sentinel reported that the City of Vaughan had given notice of award to Neuvote for internet voting services. In September 2026 Frequency News reported that Neuvote is providing the electronic voting system for an upcoming municipal election in Schreiber, Ontario.
Neuvote was also named in a 2025 CBC report on a study of Ontario's 2022 municipal online elections. Researchers from Brock, Carleton and Western universities found a vote-swapping vulnerability in the online voting systems of two of Ontario's six major vendors. In Neuvote's case, CBC reported, the flaw was discovered too late and remained unpatched when polls closed. The report describes a vulnerability and does not say it was exploited. Heuman told CBC that Neuvote has since addressed the vulnerability and added security measures. That flaw was in an online voting system, not a tabulator. Elections BC states that all votes in B.C. are cast on paper ballots and that there is no online voting option. Its 2026 Guide to Voting and Counting says tabulators count voter-marked paper ballots, are never connected to the internet during voting, and are tested before and after use.
Several details were not found in public sources: the length of the contract and its renewal terms, any statement from Elections BC, Neuvote or Smartmatic on Smartmatic's role in the contract, the exact tabulator model and its certification, and whether any other jurisdiction uses tabulators supplied by Neuvote. Elections BC says more information will come in a notice specifying the voting administration tools for the election.
Disclaimer: This is an independent summary of public sources, current to October 3, 2026. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Elections BC, Neuvote or Smartmatic, and it alleges no wrongdoing. For official election information, visit Elections BC Website