Elections BC says an investigation into allegations of voter fraud in a Surrey riding has found “no evidence of corrupt voting.”
The independent elections agency launched the probe on Sept. 29, following a complaint from the NDP in the Surrey-Fleetwood riding.
Read more:
BC Liberal candidate accused of elections fraud
Party lawyers alleged that BC Liberal candidate Gary Thind’s campaign had sought to procure voter information in order to request mail-in ballot packages on the voters’ behalf, in violation of the Elections Act.
The investigation concluded Saturday.
“It included interviewing all identified parties, reviewing material obtained form all parties, and analyzing vote-by-mail package request data,” Elections BC spokesperson Andrew Watson said in a statement.
“No evidence of improper vote-by-mail package requests was found.”
Read more:
B.C. election 2020: Find your riding and candidates
While there is no evidence that any laws were broken, Elections BC took the investigation as a chance to remind all parties that requesting ballots on behalf of voters is illegal in B.C.
As of Friday, Elections BC had received 494,000 requests for vote-by-mail packages. That represents about a quarter of the 1.98 million people who voted in the 2017 provincial election.