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B.C. Votes 2020: Incumbent Dan Ashton leads in Penticton polls

Ashton has won 47% of the polls so far, with NDP Toni Boot at 36%
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Penticton candidates shared their views on how they would help small businesses during the first all-candidates forum on Thursday night.

Dan Ashton of the BC Liberal Party has been re-elected as MLA in Penticton, keeping the seat for the party. Ashton won 2,549 out of 5,398 counted votes (47.22 per cent) with 51 of 130 polls reporting.

Toni Boot of the NDP won 1,973 votes (36.55 per cent). Ted Shumaker of the Green party won 720 votes (13.34 per cent). Keith MacIntyre of the Libertarian party won 156 votes (2.89 per cent).

As of 10:17 p.m., The Canadian Press is projecting the BC NDP has won a majority government. The party has won or is leading in 55 of 87 seats. The BC Liberal Party has won or is leading in 29, and the BC Green Party has won or is leading in three seats.

As of Oct. 23, 9,868 vote-by-mail packages had been issued to registered voters in the riding. There are a total of 43,980 registered voters in Penticton.

Provincewide, 724,279 mail-in ballots have been sent out, and there are 3,485,858 registered voters.

Mail-in ballots will be counted by hand, starting in 13 days.

Voting for the 2020 provincial election is over, but because of the number of mail-in ballots this year, the final vote tally will not be completed for some time.

Polls were open for general voting on Oct. 24 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with advance voting from Oct. 15 to Oct. 21.

The results so far will be preliminary until all of the ballots can be counted.

This year, there were four candidates on the ballot in the riding of Penticton. They were incumbent Dan Ashton of the B.C. Liberal Party, Toni Boot of the B.C. New Democratic Party, Keith MacIntyre of the Libertarian Party and Ted Shumaker of the B.C Green Party.

Ashton has represented the riding since 2013.

There are 48,525 registered voters in the riding of Penticton.

Due to COVID-19, there were more mail-in ballots requested than ever before. Around one-fifth, or 9,868 voters, had requested and received mail-in packages. This election also saw 12,240 early votes cast.

According to Elections BC, the final vote count will begin on Friday, Nov. 6, when all absentee ballots are counted.

Province-wide, there are 3,485,858 registered voters in British Columbia. Mail-in packages were issued to 724,279 voters.

Return day, when writs of election are returned to the Chief Electoral Officer, is scheduled for Nov. 16, but may be later if the final count takes longer.


@PentictonNews
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