Eby’s Snap Election Turned Abbotsford-Mission’s By-election Into a Dead Ballot Box
This is not an Elections BC scandal. It is a political-timing scandal: voters cast by-election ballots, then the premier’s general election call made them meaningless.
There is no softer way to describe the democratic waste in Abbotsford-Mission: people voted in a by-election, and those by-election ballots now count for nothing.
The facts come from Elections BC, not partisan rumour. Its Abbotsford-Mission by-election page says the by-election was cancelled because a provincial general election was called. It tells eligible voters in the riding they can vote in the 2026 Provincial General Election, with final voting day on October 24, 2026. Then comes the line every voter should read twice: ballots already cast in the Abbotsford-Mission by-election will not be counted.
That does not mean Elections BC did anything improper. Election administrators are now managing the election the law requires them to manage. The accountability question points higher: David Eby chose the timing of a general election while a local by-election process was already in motion.
The by-election was not an abstract calendar item. Elections BC’s own notice listed final voting for the Abbotsford-Mission by-election on September 26. The broader provincial election was then called on September 22, with writs issued for B.C.’s 44th general election. Elections BC says voters will now choose 93 MLAs, nominations close at 1 p.m. Pacific on October 3, advance voting runs October 16 to 21, and final voting day is October 24.
In plain English: a local democratic process was underway, voters had already participated, and the premier’s early election converted their ballots into administrative dead weight.
The NDP will argue the general election gives Abbotsford-Mission voters another chance. Technically, yes. But that answer dodges the public-interest problem. A ballot is not a rehearsal. A voter who took time to cast a by-election ballot was participating in a specific contest, on a specific writ, to fill a specific vacancy. The government’s decision to trigger a province-wide campaign erased that exercise after the fact.
This is exactly why snap elections deserve suspicion even when they are legal. They do not just move campaign signs and talking points. They disrupt local races, consume public administration, reset nomination clocks, and turn citizen effort into collateral damage.
Eby wanted a fresh mandate. Abbotsford-Mission got a dead ballot box. If the premier believes the early election was necessary, he should explain why the public interest outweighed the local voters who had already done their part.