Elections BC says nearly half a million mail-in ballots have been returned as people tried to avoid going to the polls to vote in BC’s election during the pandemic.

It says 724,279 vote-by-mail packages were requested, with nearly 498,000 returned as of Friday night.

• See also: 
  • BC aiming to return final election results by November 16
  • Voters head to the polls for BC’s mid-pandemic election

Voters had until the polls close today to return the mail-in ballots.

There are nearly 3.5 million registered voters in British Columbia.