Close X
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
ADVT 
National

Toxicity and tight race fuel B.C. election integrity doubters, says professor

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Oct, 2024 02:35 PM
  • Toxicity and tight race fuel B.C. election integrity doubters, says professor

A British Columbia political scientist says social media questioning of the provincial election's integrity is an "inevitable" result of political "toxicity" and a tight race.

University of British Columbia professor emeritus Richard Johnston says questions about mail-in votes and the handling of ballots also reflect circumstances south of the border.

He said other factors include use of more complicated voting apparatus and social media platforms where anyone can publish doubts.

"There is a relationship between the closeness of results and the toxicity of the commentary around it," Johnston said.

"I mean, we're describing almost exactly the situation in the U.S., right? Basically a 50/50 result, so close that each side might have suspicions about the other."

The British Columbia election came down to absentee ballots on Monday, after neither Premier David Eby's NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives, led by John Rustad, secured a majority. 

After a count of mail-in votes over the weekend saw prospects for an NDP victory increase, online posts questioned the number of mail-in and absentee votes, the ballots' origins, the wait between the initial and final counts, and how the votes were handled during that time.

B.C. Conservatives president Aisha Estey said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday that she "spent the last two days in a warehouse watching the transcription and counting of mail-in ballots," and saw nothing problematic.

"Elections BC staff have been working tirelessly and doing their best within the confines of the legislation that governs their work," Estey said in her post. 

"Would we have liked mail-ins to be counted closer to E-Day? Sure. But I saw nothing that caused me concern."

Premier and B.C. New Democrat Leader David Eby also took to X on Sunday to express support for Elections BC staff "making sure every vote gets counted."

Elections BC did not respond directly to questions about the integrity of the process, only saying that the final vote count was continuing on Monday.

Johnston said Elections BC's efforts to make voting more accessible and counting more efficient had actually been feeding integrity doubts.

He said increased use of advance voting, mail-in and absentee ballots, as well as digital vote tabulation, were being compared unfavourably by some with more basic voting and hand-counting systems used in the past.

"Basically, the whole voting process was simpler," Johnston said. "You had to turn up on election day. You had to have a reason for voting in advance polls … and you really had to basically make a declaration that you were going to have either a surgical procedure or you could not avoid being out of the constituency on election day. 

"The count may take a long time on election day if it's a particularly close riding," he said. "But … there's a sense in which all the players who were on the ballot were in a position that was easily interpretable as verifying the facts. Everybody had an interest in defending its side, and the result would be in a sense accurate and fair." 

Dominion Voting Systems, which manufactured the electronic tabulators used in the B.C. election, referred questions to its website page dedicated to misinformation about the company and its technology. It addresses concerns about misinformation that emerged after the U.S. presidential election in 2020. 

Fox News agreed last year to pay Dominion nearly US$800 million to avert a trial in the company’s lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the election.

"All Dominion systems are based on voter-verifiable paper ballots or paper records for auditing," the company said on its web page. "Dominion systems comply with all requirements for system updates and election records retention."

Johnston also said the very idea of making voting more accessible could create a "background for paranoia," as doubters questioned the nature and origins of people who would not otherwise have been able to vote. 

"Historically, paranoia about the conduct of elections has hardly been peculiar to the right wing of the political landscape," he said. "It's also been a feature on the left. It kind of depends on who wins and who loses. 

"If you were to go back 20 years and look forward, I think a lot on the left would be shocked that it would be people on the left who are defending the integrity of the establishment, so to speak."

One major difference with discourse in the United States, Johnston said, was that B.C. party leaders, such as Estey, had so far not engaged in "delegitimization tactics."

Whether that changes would be something to watch for, he said.

"It'll be interesting to see whether there's blowback from the fringes of the Conservative Party against the party's own leadership," he said. 

He added: "Let's see whether there are any dynamics inside the Conservative Party over the next few days that makes John Rustad worried that perhaps the party president's acceptance of the process was premature from a political point of view."

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts
A hunter in southeastern British Columbia managed to shoot a grizzly bear that attacked him on Thursday and left him with broken bones and cuts. RCMP in Elk Valley, near Fernie, say the 36-year-old man from nearby Sparwood was out with his father when he was attacked by an adult grizzly.

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts

No jail time for ex security guard

No jail time for ex security guard
A former security guard at a university in Langley, B-C, who was convicted of manslaughter will not be going to prison. The B-C Supreme Court found the 55-year-old man guilty in the 2020 incident at Trinity Western University that resulted in the death of a 30-year-old.

No jail time for ex security guard

B.C. boaters ordered to remove drainage plugs to prevent spread of whirling disease

B.C. boaters ordered to remove drainage plugs to prevent spread of whirling disease
British Columbia's chief veterinarian has issued an order making it illegal to transport boats or other watercraft without removing the drain plug to prevent the spread of whirling disease. The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says the order takes effect on Friday and is also intended to keep invasive mussels out of B.C. waterways.

B.C. boaters ordered to remove drainage plugs to prevent spread of whirling disease

Mother, stepfather get 15 years for manslaughter in death of B.C. boy Dontay Lucas, 6

Mother, stepfather get 15 years for manslaughter in death of B.C. boy Dontay Lucas, 6
The mother and stepfather of six-year-old Dontay Lucas have been sentenced to 15 years each in prison by a B.C. Supreme Court judge. Mitchell Frank and Rykel Frank stood in shackles in a court in Port Alberni as they were sentenced for the death of the boy who was found in medical distress inside the home he shared with his mother in March 2018.   

Mother, stepfather get 15 years for manslaughter in death of B.C. boy Dontay Lucas, 6

Rain brings 'excellent' conditions for crews battling northern B.C. wildfires

Rain brings 'excellent' conditions for crews battling northern B.C. wildfires
A rainy day in and around Fort Nelson, B.C., was what fire crews were hoping for as they continue to battle a wildfire burning 2.5 kilometres outside the town. Evan Peck with the BC Wildfire Service said a low-pressure system brought much-needed rain over the last two days, along with cooler temperatures and lower humidity, making for "excellent" conditions for fire suppression efforts.

Rain brings 'excellent' conditions for crews battling northern B.C. wildfires

Kasari Govender re-appointed for 5 years

Kasari Govender re-appointed for 5 years
B-C's human rights commissioner has been reappointed by the legislature for another five years. Legislature members voted unanimously to reappoint Kasari Govender, following a recommendation from a parliamentary committee of government and opposition members.

Kasari Govender re-appointed for 5 years