What We Do
General description / Electoral Management Reference Model
Elections BC administers the provincial electoral process. It conducts provincial general elections, by-elections, referendums and administers the initiative and recall legislation. By doing so in a fair and impartial way, Elections BC makes sure that British Columbians have full access to their democratic rights.
Elections BC’s mandate comes from several Acts, including the Election Act, Recall and Initiative Act, Constitution Act and Referendum Act. Together, these Acts define Elections BC’s responsibilities and set out the duties of the Chief Electoral Officer.
How we are organized
Elections BC is divided into five program areas:
- Executive
- Electoral Finance and Corporate Administration
- Corporate Planning and Event Management
- Voter Registration and Boundaries
- Information Technology
Each program area has a specific set of responsibilities. The diversity of their responsibilities reflects the wide scope of Elections BC’s work, which includes:
Corporate planning and event management
At the heart of Elections BC’s work lies the planning and management of electoral events. Elections BC is required to deliver a wide range of both scheduled and non-scheduled events, including general elections, by-elections, referendums, initiative petitions and recall campaigns. Every aspect of these events must be planned for and administered, including the candidacy process, voting opportunities, ballot counting and results reporting.
Although provincial general elections are scheduled for specific dates every four years, other electoral events can happen suddenly and with little warning. The need to respond quickly means that Elections BC must maintain a state of constant readiness.
Elections BC is committed to a culture of planning to support the successful delivery of these events. Every program area plans its work according to a step-by-step process, and performance measurements are used to ensure that work is delivered on schedule, and that lessons learned can be applied to future projects.
Careful planning reduces risks, increases productivity and improves event delivery. This is particularly important for events such as general elections, which involve months of work, complex logistics and an estimated 30,000 temporary staff.
Elections BC is always looking to improve its event planning and management skills. Its stated vision is to be a leader in electoral administration, and it places a heavy emphasis on the importance of learning and sharing knowledge and skills.
Electoral finance
Elections BC is responsible for administering electoral finance laws in B.C. This includes Parts 9, 10, and 11 of the Election Act and the financing provisions of the Recall and Initiative Act. In other jurisdictions, electoral finance is often called campaign finance.
Electoral finance laws improve the democratic process by creating a more level playing field for candidates and political parties and providing transparency. They also prevent money from unfairly influencing election outcomes and from swaying public policy decisions.
In B.C., electoral finance includes:
- the registration and deregistration of political parties and constituency associations
- rules about how political parties, constituency associations, candidates, and leadership contestants must administer their finances
- financial disclosure and reporting requirements
- rules about election advertising
Voter registration
Elections BC is responsible for maintaining the provincial voters list, which includes the names and addresses of the registered voters in each electoral district. The voters list is used to make sure that only eligible voters vote in an election, and that they only vote once.
Under the Election Act, Elections BC must hold enumerations to maintain the accuracy of the list. An enumeration is a registration event directed to all eligible voters or specific groups of voters in one or more electoral districts. Before the May 12, 2009 General Election, Elections BC will conduct an enumeration by mail.
Elections BC is also responsible for regulating access to the voters list. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and registered political parties are allowed a copy of the list, as are recall proponents. The list is made available to municipal and federal election administrators, and is used to produce jury selection lists.
Geographic data and electoral boundaries
Elections BC maintains a range of high quality electoral data and information, including a geo-spatial database of B.C.’s electoral boundaries, road network and address data. It provides support to the boundary redistribution process, and produces a variety of products necessary to administer electoral events, such as copies of the provincial voters list, electoral maps and the Location Index.
Communications and voter education
As voter turnout rates continue to drop around the world, it is important for Elections BC to engage voters and raise public awareness of the importance of voting. To that end, Elections BC has launched a series of outreach and partnering efforts, and remains committed to providing a wide range of public information materials.
Elections BC’s communications projects include:
- preparing election tool kit and teaching materials for Grade 5 and Grade 11 classrooms
- pursuing community speaking opportunities for the Chief Electoral Officer and Deputy Chief Electoral Officer
- developing an ongoing Democracy Day project to tie in to the United Nation’s designation of September 15 as the world’s Democracy Day
- improving its website
- preparing innovative communications plans to raise awareness about upcoming electoral events, including the targeted enumeration, referendum on electoral reform and general election
What happens between elections?
Elections BC staff are often asked what they do between elections. In fact, they do quite a lot.
Elections BC staff, like election administrators everywhere, are the firefighters of the electoral world - ready to serve whenever and wherever necessary. Between fires, firefighters check their equipment, develop their skills and knowledge, train new recruits, update materials and keep their supplies current and ready. That’s what Elections BC does. Between elections, it maintains the voters list, reviews and updates materials and supplies, maintains and updates its computer systems and ensures all staff are trained and ready to serve.
Some of Elections BC’s ongoing activities include:
- public awareness programs and voter education initiatives
- voter registration activities
- responding to enquiries from the media and the general public
- registering political parties and constituency associations
- appointing and training District Electoral Officers
- providing voters lists to municipalities for their triennial elections
- providing voters lists to MLAs, registered political parties and constituency associations
- liaising with other election offices and organizations
- administering election finance requirements and publishing financial disclosure reports
- managing voting areas (Election Act, section 80 requires that each voting area have no more than 400 registered voters)
- assisting with referendums and non-government elections
Electoral Management Reference Model
The Electoral Management Reference Model (EMRM) has been developed to provide an understanding of the business of electoral administration within the Canadian context. The EMRM provides Canadian electoral agencies with a solid and shared understanding of the business of elections as it exists today and will facilitate collaboration and discussion among Canada’s electoral administrators. The EMRM is also a useful reference for academics, students and others who wish to understand electoral administration.
