“We’re aware that the CUPW have issued a strike notice,” chief electoral officer Anton Boegman told reporters Monday, adding that he has the option of extending the voting period if there’s a “material impact on people’s ability” to return their ballot by the deadline. “We remain committed to arriving at a negotiated settlement with CUPW, while making every effort to minimize the impact of any disruption on the customers we serve.”

Boegman said Elections BC has over 3.3 million voting packages to mail to registered voters. “Voters have lots of time to receive, complete and mail their packages.”

Boegman has the authority to add extra time to the deadline, which was done in 2011 when the voting period for a referendum on the harmonized sales tax was extended by two weeks due to a lockout at Canada Post. The second question asks what “kind” of PR but without any real choice. The first question for voters is whether they want to stick with the existing first-past-the-post system — where each of 87 ridings are represented by a single MLA who is the top vote winner in the election — or change to proportional representation. That means rural areas will have less time to vote than urban ones, since they receive ballots later and must send them earlier to ensure delivery in time. “In many other countries around the world that have adopted a proportional representation electoral system … extremist parties win multiple seats in legislature and proceed to hold the balance of power.” The Green Party’s critic on electoral reform encouraged British Columbians to vote yes to ending first-past-the-post and replacing it with one of the three alternatives, but her party stopped short of advocating which alternative it preferred. Critics argue that this allows for major parties to be over-represented in legislatures based on their share of the vote, while smaller parties can be shut out entirely even if they receive a significant percentage of all votes.
The Canadian province of British Columbia begins a postal ballot to determine whether to maintain the current first-past-the-post voting system or switch to a form of proportional representation for their provincial elections.