Kristina Loewen was anxious but hopeful as a judicial recount began of the ballots cast in her narrow 38-vote election night victory for the BC Conservatives in the riding of sa国际传媒 Centre.听
Staff with Elections BC began doing the hand-count at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, holding each of the 25,747 ballots up in front of them at tables where scrutineers from various parties were also seated.听
As the mark on the ballot was agreed upon by staff and scrutineers, a record was made, the ballot set aside, and the next ballot drawn from a box. It took about 10 to 15 seconds for each ballot to be logged, with the recount expected to continue through Thursday and into Friday.听
The process, overseen in a second-floor room at Trinity Baptist Church by sa国际传媒 Supreme Court Justice Alison Beames and four armed sheriffs, was slow but methodical.听
Asked outside the church how she was feeling about the recount, Loewen, a political neophyte who has never held elected office before, said she was nervous but believed her election night victory would stand up.听
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be human if I didn鈥檛 feel a little bit anxious,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut I believe in democracy and I do trust the process.
鈥淚tsa国际传媒 a really tight process. The judge is doing her job, the lawyers are doing their jobs, the Elections BC officials are doing their jobs, and the scrutineers as well.鈥
Asked if she was confident she would prevail, Loewen laughed and said: 鈥淚 hope so! I鈥檓 excited to do the job of an MLA.鈥
Loewen, who had been walking between the tables where the recount was being conducted and looking over the shoulders of her scrutineers, said the process seemed thorough and transparent. She hadn鈥檛 seen any instances where the mark on the ballot was not clear, she said. 鈥淭he ballots look clear,鈥 she said.听
A reporter suggested it would be nice if the counting process was finally over, nearly three weeks after voting day, Loewen laughed and said: 鈥淔or you and me both.鈥
Although election procedures give the losing candidate another chance to appeal after the judicial recount is concluded, Loewen said: 鈥淚鈥檓 not anticipating that. So I haven鈥檛 really thought about that.鈥
NDP candidate Loyal Wooldridge, who came second to Loewen, did not attend the start of Thursdaysa国际传媒 recount proceedings.听
鈥淭his is an important process. It adds to the publicsa国际传媒 confidence in the electoral system,鈥 Justice Beams said before the recount commenced.听
Elections BC did not publicize the location of the recount. It is being held at the Trinity Baptist Church on Springfield Road.听
Reporters allowed to attend the recount had to agree to a list of conditions to gain admittance.听
These included:听
- not identifying any Elections BC officials or scrutineers by name
- not taking any pictures of the actual recount
- not publishing in any way any interim counts that might be announced during the recount
There was also a prohibition against publishing the results of the recount until its 鈥渃ertification鈥, which won鈥檛 happen until sometime early next week.听
Justice Beames said her preference would be to allow the media to report the 鈥渄eclaration鈥 that will be made at the end of the recount. But she wanted to confer with her judicial colleague overseeing a similar recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, where the NDP candidate has been provisionally named as the winner with a 27 vote edge over the BC Conservative opponent.听
Of the presence of armed sheriffs in the room where the recount was taking place, Beames said: 鈥淭hey are here to keep us safe.鈥
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