Judicial recount begins in three BC ridings after election irregularities

Twenty pairs of hands methodically worked their way through the 10 stacks of Surrey-Guildford’s 19,090 ballots as the painstaking judicial recount got under way Thursday in the riding with the tightest result following last month’s B.C. election.Each ballot was held up so the pair of scrutineers sitting across the fold-out tables – one from the provincial New Democrats and one from the BC Conservatives – could okay the ballot being accepted or rejected. If the parties disagreed, then the disputed ballot is taken to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kevin Loo in an adjoining space in the rented warehouse that’s been turned into a makeshift courtroom. The judge then weighs the arguments from lawyers for each party before ruling on the validity of the vote.