Advance Results Expected First on BC Election Night

Tabulated ballots to lead early numbers; hand-counted election-day votes to follow later

October 23 2026 - Preliminary results for the October 24 British Columbia provincial election will begin appearing shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Advance voting ballots and those cast at district electoral offices were counted by optical-scan tabulators.

Elections BC has said these results are expected to be reported first. In the 2024 election, when tabulators were used more widely, the first results appeared within about five minutes of polls closing and roughly 59 per cent of preliminary results were in within half an hour.

A similar early window is expected for the tabulated advance and district office numbers this year.

Ballots cast at assigned voting places on Final Voting Day will be hand-counted by election officials after the polls close.

These results will arrive later in the evening than the advance numbers because manual counting takes longer.

Early preliminary figures, driven mainly by the tabulated advance and district office ballots, should start appearing shortly after 8 p.m., with a substantial portion of those results likely within the first 30 to 60 minutes.

Full election-night preliminary totals, including the hand-counted election-day ballots, are expected to take longer and may continue into the later evening.

Officials generally continue counting until the initial count is finished that night, though rare practical delays have pushed a small number of results into the next morning in past elections.

Mail-in and most absentee ballots are not included in the election-night count.

Completed vote-by-mail packages must be received by Elections BC by 8 p.m. on October 24 to be counted. These ballots, along with most remaining certification-envelope ballots, will be tallied during the final count scheduled for November 6 to 10.

Elections BC has typically released an estimate of outstanding ballots in the days after election night.

All election-night numbers are preliminary and can change before official results are declared.

Advance Results Expected First on BC Election Night