Elections B.C. planning for bad weather on election day

Voters along British Columbia's South Coast who have not cast their ballots in advance polls will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on provincial election day on Saturday.

Environment Canada said the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby said the forecast of an atmospheric weather storm on election day will become a "ballot question" for some voters who are concerned about the parties' approaches to addressing climate change.

But he said he is confident people will not let the storm deter them from voting.

"I know British Columbians are tough, and they're not going to let even an atmospheric river stop them from voting," said Eby.

In northern B.C., heavy snow is in the forecast starting Friday through to Saturday for areas along the Yukon boundary. 

Andrew Watson, senior director of communications for Elections B.C., said it will focus on ensuring it is prepared for bad weather.

"We've also been working with B.C. Hydro to make sure that they're aware of all of our voting place locations so that they can respond quickly if there are any power outages," he said.

Elections B.C. also has paper backups for all of its systems in case there is a power outage, forcing them to go through manual procedures, Watson said.

More than a million British Columbians have already cast their provincial election ballots, smashing the advance voting record.

Elections B.C. said the record advance vote tally includes about 223,000 people who voted on Wednesday, the last day of advance polls. This shatters the one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 40,000 votes.

The previous record for advance voting in a B.C. election was set in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when about 670,000 people voted early, representing about 19 per cent of registered voters.