The BC Conservatives have called for an RCMP investigation into "voting irregularities" in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, which the BC NDP won by just 22 votes.
The party's concerns are centred around the Argyll Lodge, a licensed substance abuse and recovery facility where a number of mail-in ballots allegedly originated.
"It is clear that things are not adding up here," Richmond-Queensborough MLA and Attorney-General Critic Steve Kooner said. "It's time for the police to investigate potential offences under the Elections Act."
Kooner cited claims made by Argyll Lodge manager Baljit Kandola that Elections BC had delivered 21 voting packages to his establishment, which is located across the road from a polling station, noting that Elections BC has made it clear that voters must individually request such packages.
The Conservative MLA said it was therefore possible that Section 104.01 of the BC Election Act had been violated.
"We read in the media statements from Argyll Lodge, such as 'Every time there’s an election, either provincial or federal elections, the commission, they contact us, they probably have their offices in the neighbourhood, and they’ve always delivered their ballots here'," Kooner continued. "These statements are absurd on their face."
He noted that, "neither Elections BC nor Elections Canada 'deliver' ballots in bulk to licensed addiction and recovery facilities, certainly not 21 ballots," reiterating that Elections BC "has already refuted this claim, quickly and clearly."
"There are strict rules about who may assist a voter in completing and returning a mail-in ballot — only one person may assist any individual voter," Kooner concluded. "Offences under the Elections Act are punishable by fines up to $20,000 and sentences of up to two years in jail, and that’s the way it should be. We need an urgent RCMP investigation to get to the bottom of these inconsistencies."
