Skip to content

Chilliwack school board chair showing strong lead at the polls

Dan Coulter running for BC NDP against incumbent BC Liberal John Martin
23110367_web1_201001-CPL-CoulterOfficiallyConfirmed-Chilliwack_1
Dan Coulter. (Submitted)

Election night results have started out strong for BC NDP candidate for Chilliwack, Dan Coulter.

Currently chair of the Chilliwack School Board, Coulter is vying for the seat against incumbent BC Liberal John Martin and BC Conservative Diane Janzen.

The trio are the front runners in the riding, and it could be difficult to know the winner until the end of the night.

But Coulter is maintaining a strong lead over Martin, with about 34 per cent of the vote (26 of 82 ballot boxes reporting as of 9:14 p.m.) Martin has about 31 per cent of the vote, and Janzen has almost 19 per cent.

By 10:23 p.m., 54 of the 82 ballot boxes were reported, and the three were still holding the top three spots with 34.63 per cent, 30.22 percent, and 20.26 per cent.

Also running are BC Green candidate Tim Cooper, Libertarian Andrew Coombes, and Independent Josue Anderson.

Several news organizations have already called an NDP win and majority for the province.

If Coulter wins the Chilliwack riding it could trigger a byelection for the Chilliwack School District. There is no law against holding both seats.

Watch here for updates.

READ MORE: DEVELOPING: With polls closed, Chilliwack awaits results

Due to the pandemic, more British Columbians have decided to vote by mail-in ballot than ever before. Election results won’t be finalized until after Nov. 6., after those mail-in ballots are counted. An estimated 5,809 number of mail-in ballots were requested by Elections BC within the Chilliwack riding, and 7,650 in Chilliwack-Kent. There are 37,676 registered voters in Chilliwack and 43,698 in Chilliwack-Kent.

Across B.C., a total of 478,900 mail-in ballots were returned to Election BC, as of Friday, Oct. 22.

There are roughly 3.5 million registered voters in the province.


@CHWKcommunity
jpeters@theprogress.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Want to support local journalism during the pandemic? Make a donation here.



Jessica Peters

About the Author: Jessica Peters

I began my career in 1999, covering communities across the Fraser Valley ever since.
Read more