More than 800 national special ballots from 74 ridings across the country were mistakenly kept at a B.C. office, Elections Canada says.
Chief electoral officer St茅phane Perrault said Elections Canada informed all registered political parties Wednesday (May 7) that 822 national special ballots had been mistakenly kept at the office of the returning officer for Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam during the federal election.
The news release adds the ballots should have been returned to Elections Canada headquarters by the 6 p.m. deadline on April 28 in order to be legally counted in accordance with the Canada Elections Act.
Perrault added that an initial analysis shows the outcome would not be affected in any of the 74 districts. The statement adds the issue was "caused by human error and a failure to comply with the written procedures."
Perrault said he has asked for a complete review of the controls in place to ensure that a similar situation does not happen again in future elections.
The majority 鈥� 67 electoral district 鈥� have fewer than 10 ballots mistakenly left in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.
However, the Port Moody-Coquitlam riding had 530 mistakenly left at the office. Liberal Zoe Royer won in that riding, with 27,074 votes 鈥� 1,948 more than the Conservative candidate.
