Reaching voters online becomes prime challenge

`Very different campaign' season in B.C.

VANCOUVER • All parties must now prepare to navigate an election campaign unlike any held previously in B.C. history.

Parties will be forbidden from holding large rallies or gathering mass supporters, as crowds of more than 50 people are banned under public health orders. Election tours by party leaders, which normally criss-cross the province, have largely been scrapped. It's unclear if candidates will even knock on doors, given public anxiety over social distancing.

Instead, party war rooms are expected to blitz social media with advertising in an attempt to reach housebound voters. Phone banks and electronic outreach will prove crucial.

The B.C. Liberals have about $2.3 million in cash deposits while carrying about $800,000 in debt, according to the party's last financial disclosure. The party raised $2.9 million in political contributions last year and received almost $1.8 million in per-vote government subsidies.

“I think we all know there aren't going to be big rallies, there aren't going to be big meetings, it's going to be a very different campaign,” said Andrew Wilkinson, who is facing his first provincial campaign since becoming Liberal leader in 2018. “There'll be a lot of social media, a lot of reliance on the mainstream media.”

The campaign will try to connect directly with voters by phone and through Zoom calls, he said.

The Liberals enter this race minus some high-profile candidates including former cabinet ministers Linda Reid, Steve Thomson, John Yap, Rich Coleman, and Ralph Sultan.

Two-term Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson announced her retirement along with three-term MLA Donna Barnett, who serves Cariboo-Chilcotin.

“We're in difficult times,” he said. “This has never been the scenario that any of us expected.”

Elections B.C., meanwhile, is also preparing for an unprecedented situation. It has extended advanced voting dates, and is promising enhanced cleaning, crowd management and social distancing to ensure the health of voters.

The election agency has encouraged anyone uncomfortable with attending to vote in person to request a mail-in ballot instead, and is expecting as many as onethird of all voters to go the mail-in route.

While convenient, the mail-in demand could present a logistical problem for Elections B.C. because mail-in ballots aren't counted until typically 13 days after voting day. That raises the potential the public may not know exactly which party won on election night, Oct. 24, because one-third of the votes had yet to be counted. It could be as late as Nov. 16 before final results are certified.

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