Here's a look at how voters in Nanaimo-North Cowichan (NNC) cast their ballots in the May 14 provincial election.
Incumbent NDP MLA Doug Routley regained his seat with 10,538 votes of the 22,687 votes cast in NNC. That translates to 46.45 per cent of the popular vote.
Liberal Party candidate and political newcomer Amanda Jacobson came in second with 6,984 votes (30.78 per cent), followed by Green Party candidate Mayo McDonough with 3,043 votes (13.41 per cent).
John Sherry of the BC Conservative Party earned 1,465 votes (6.46 per cent) to earn himself fourth place ahead of independent candidates Murray McNab (592 votes; 2.61 per cent) and P. Anna Paddon (65 votes and 0.29 per cent).
These numbers are based on the initial count of “live votes” — ballots cast at a voter's assigned voting station — completed at 1 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, NNC Deputy Electoral Officer Lynda Poirier said.
That number is expected to grow once the final count is completed May 29, Poirier added.
With live ballots cast by 22,687 of NNC's 40,230 registered voters, voter turnout in NNC now stands at 56.39 per cent, higher than the provincial turnout of 52.28 per cent (1,629,422 "live" votes were cast province-wide Tuesday night by B.C.'s 3,116,626 registered voters).
According to John Main, communications manager with Elections BC, the final vote count is scheduled to take place May 27 – 29.
Insight into who Ladysmith and Chemainus voters cast their ballots for will have to wait until later this spring when Elections BC releases a “ballot box-by-ballot box” breakdown of votes “sometime in June,” Main said.