Editorial cartoon of a voter at a rain-soaked ballot box as a giant receipt-like ballot curls into a storm cloud
Cartoon: the snap-election receipt comes due at the ballot box.
David Eby chose the early election. On final voting day, the risk is no longer theoretical.

British Columbians vote today with the polling stations open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to Elections BC. That is the legal fact. The political fact is sharper: Premier David Eby asked voters to interrupt the fixed-date rhythm and judge his government early. Final public polling suggests many voters may do exactly that.

None of this is a result. Polls can miss. Late voters matter. Undecided voters matter. But accountability also means reading the public record before the ballots are counted. Ipsos, in a final Global BC poll released October 23, put the BC Conservatives at 44% and the BC NDP at 39% among decided voters. Ipsos described Eby’s early election gamble as “a bet made with a bad hand.”

Pollara’s final tracking told a similar story: Conservatives at 42%, the NDP at 37%, and the Greens at 13% among decided voters. Just as important, Pollara said the race was tied 38%-38% when the campaign began. In other words, the campaign Eby chose did not clearly expand his permission slip. It narrowed the argument to trust, competence and change.

Research Co.’s campaign polling also showed the NDP struggling to turn the early call into a clean advantage. Its October 13 survey had the Conservatives narrowly ahead of the NDP among decided likely voters and found most respondents dissatisfied with the provincial government’s performance. However one weights the firms, the direction is hard for the NDP to spin: the government that called the vote is not entering final voting day from a position of obvious strength.

The context matters. Global News and The Canadian Press reported this week that the snap election caught both major parties underprepared, and political scientist Hamish Telford called it an election “of their making.” The same report noted the NDP failed to nominate a candidate in Peace River North. That is not a small process detail. A governing party that asks for an early mandate should at least look fully prepared to contest the map it created.

Today’s choice belongs to voters, not pollsters. But Eby cannot separate himself from the timing. He chose the early writ. He chose to put health care, affordability, debt, public safety, DRIPA uncertainty and trust on the same ballot. If voters hand him the bill tonight, it will not be a freak accident. It will be the receipt for a snap election the NDP decided British Columbia needed.

Sources and records