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After final ballot count, B.C. Liberal Milobar remains victorious in Kamloops-North Thompson

It was closer than the numbers showed on election night, but Peter Milobar hung on through counting of mail-in ballots to secure re-election in Kamloops-North Thompson in the 2020 provincial election.
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Kamloops North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar. (KTW photo)

It was closer than the numbers showed on election night, but Peter Milobar hung on through counting of mail-in ballots to secure re-election in Kamloops-North Thompson in the 2020 provincial election.

Final figures from the count of mail-in ballots show the B.C. Liberal candidate with a 196-vote victory over B.C. NDP candidate Sadie Hunter.

Milobar finished with 9,341 votes (41% of the vote), followed by Hunter with 9,145 votes (40% of the vote).

On election day, Oct. 24, a total of 16,600 election day and advance voting ballots had been counted, with Milobar holding a 791-vote lead, pending counting of mail-in ballots.

Elections BC said there remained 6,332 mail-in ballots to consider. As of the final report, 6,187 of those ballots were added to the tallies.

B.C. Green candidate Thomas Martin was third with 2,224 votes (9.8% of the vote), followed by B.C. Conservative candidate Dennis Giesbrecht with 1,928 votes (8.5% of the vote) and Independent Brandon Russell with 149 votes (0.7% of the vote). None of the candidates outside of Milobar and Hunter met the 10 per cent vote threshold to qualify for the $2.50 per vote subsidy.

Final counting is also complete in Kamloops-South Thompson, where B.C. Liberal candidate Todd Stone won with 13,453 votes (51% of the vote), followed by B.C. NDP candidate Anna Thomas with 8,575 votes (33% of the vote) and B.C. Green candidate Dan Hines with 4,276 votes (16% of the vote).

As of election night, the NDP had secured re-election and a majority mandate, with 55 projected seats, compared to the Liberals’ 29 and the Greens’ three. Those numbers are changing during final count, with the NDP adding at least two seats, the Liberals losing at least two and the Greens losing one, with the 41-vote Liberal margin of victory in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky slim enough to warrant a judicial recount.

According to Elections BC, ballots that do not pass screening are set aside and not opened. During final count, certification envelopes that are found to contain no ballot or more than one marked ballot will also be set aside and not considered.

There are several different types of absentee ballots considered at final count, including mail-in ballots, ballots cast at district electoral offices and ballots cast outside a voter’s electoral district of residence.

Results can be viewed at elections.bc.ca.

~ Kamloops This Week