Port Moody explains how ballots are stored and counted after voting

Port Moody will hold its 2026 general local election on Oct. 17, electing one mayor and six councillors to city council, along with two school trustees for the School District 43 Board of Education. The city says its election process is intended to be accessible, fair, secure and transparent, and has outlined how ballots are collected, stored and counted.

At an in-person voting place, voters use the supplied pen to fill in the circle beside their chosen candidates. They may vote for up to one mayor, six councillors and two school trustees. Voters can take part in one, two or all three races and may choose fewer candidates than the permitted maximum. After marking the ballot, they insert it into a vote tabulator.

If the tabulator detects an overvote in one or more races, it displays a message on its touchscreen. Votes in an overvoted race are invalid and will not count. Voters who want to correct an overvote must request a replacement ballot from the presiding election official at the voting place; the original ballot is collected as spoiled and excluded from the results. An undervote, in which fewer than the maximum number of candidates is selected, is acceptable, and all valid votes on the ballot count. If the voter made the omission by mistake, they may reclaim the ballot, return to a voting booth and finish marking it. A blank ballot is accepted but adds no votes to the results; voters may reclaim it and mark it.

The tabulator reads each ballot and adds its valid votes to the total. Shortly after 8 p.m. on general voting day, presiding election officials, who supervise voting places, close voting on each tabulator and print a results tape. Each machine calculates the votes it read for every candidate during voting and prints those totals. The tapes are sent immediately to the Election Office for verification and reporting. Ballots remain sealed in their respective ballot boxes and are securely stored at election headquarters in City Hall for the period required by law.

Mail ballots are identical to those available at in-person voting places. Each voter may vote only once in the election, either by mail or in person. Mail ballot packages include marking instructions. The city recommends using a black-ink pen to fill in the circle beside each chosen candidate. Voters may select up to one mayor, six councillors and two school trustees, can vote in one, two or all three races, and may select fewer than the maximum in any race. Completed ballots must be placed in the provided envelopes and returned to the Chief Election Officer by 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.

Returned mail ballots are stored securely at election headquarters until certification and counting. Each ballot undergoes a detailed certification process to ensure all required documents, such as voter registrations, have been returned and legislative requirements have been met. The package includes a secrecy envelope. Voters put their ballot in that envelope, seal it, then place it inside a certification envelope. The secrecy envelope has no external markings identifying the voter and may be opened only by the Chief Election Officer or a designate. Once the ballot is certified, the sealed secrecy envelope containing it is separated from the certification envelope. After voting closes on general voting day, secrecy envelopes are opened and the ballots are processed through a dedicated tabulator. Mail ballots that fail certification, or arrive with either the secrecy envelope or certification envelope unsealed, will not count in the 2026 election.

For mail ballots, votes in an overvoted race are invalid, but any valid votes in other races on the ballot count. Undervoting is acceptable and all valid votes count; blank ballots are accepted but add no votes to the results. In all these cases, an election official processes the ballot through the tabulator and counts any valid votes.

Candidates may have representatives, known as scrutineers, observe advance voting and voting on general voting day. Scrutineers may observe voting proceedings, results tabulation and the opening of mail ballots. They cannot campaign inside a voting place and must observe neutrally, following provincial legislation, the local government’s election bylaw, and directions from the Chief Election Officer and presiding election officials.

Preliminary results will be based on the results tapes from tabulators at voting places on general voting day, as well as tapes from machines used for advance voting and mail ballots. At election headquarters, the Chief Election Officer or a designate will produce the latter tapes; together with the tapes from voting places, they will be used to determine preliminary results. Preliminary results will be posted at portmoody.ca/vote as they become available after 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. The Chief Election Officer must declare official results by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and they will also be posted on the website.

More information is available at portmoody.ca/vote. B.C.’s Local Government Act authorizes municipalities to set procedures and requirements by bylaw for general local elections, by-elections and other voting. Port Moody’s rules are set out in its consolidated General Local Government Election Bylaw, 2022, No. 3367. For information unavailable on the website or in official city notices, contact the Election Office at elections@portmoody.ca.