Senior Communications Director Andrew Watson said Elections BC has not referred allegations of election irregularities in Surrey-Guillford to the RCMP, because the province’s election agency is best situated to review the matter given its access to election materials and records.
Watson said Elections BC reviews any complaints of this nature and takes such allegations seriously. If anyone believes they have evidence of an Elections Act violation, they can submit that information to Elections BC, and the allegations will always be reviewed.
The Elections BC review comes after a complaint from the conservative candidate for Surrey-Guildford, Honveer Singh Randhawa, was received by Elections BC on Jan. 3. The complaint alleges potential Election Act violations during the provincial election in the fall.
Watson characterized Randhawa’s complaint as centering on the rules in the Elections Act about requesting and completing vote-by-mail packages. For example, he described rules against voter intimidation or helping too many people (outside of one’s family) with requesting a vote-by-mail package.
“We’ll be reviewing the complaint to see if any action is necessary on the enforcement side, and that could include things like a warning letter or some of the penalties I mentioned if any of these allegations are substantiated, but that remains to be seen.”
“Reviews can vary in length given the circumstances of each case,” Watson also said, noting this probe is a priority and Elections BC will provide information as soon as possible.
Watson was on CFAX 1070 with Al Ferraby today (Jan. 15). This interview comes after Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad discussed his take on these allegations on CFAX 1070 last week (Jan. 10). During the conversation, he suggested many people are questioning Elections BC and the elections process, ultimately calling for an independent review of the claims.