If the advance polls are any indication, and they usually are, interest in tomorrow's provincial by-election in Nanaimo is high.
More than 20% of eligible voters have already voted in advance polls.
The results have the potential to upset the provincial government as currently the NDP-Green alliance has 44 seats, while the opposition Liberals have 42. A loss to the Liberals would mean the parties would be tied, and Speaker Daryl Plecas would have to serve as the deciding vote.
Election BC spokesperson Rebecca Penz says once the polls close at 8 p.m. each ballot box will be counted, with results uploaded to their website:
"Shortly after close the first ballot boxes, or counts, will get loaded onto our website. Those will get updated every 3 minutes, so folks who are interested can watch as those get updated. And we could possibly have initial count results within the first hour."
Penz emphasizes those results won't include absentee ballots. Those will be tallied in the final count which begins next Wednesday, February 6th.
Voters will choose from 6 candidates: