A British Columbia political scientist says social media questioning of the provincial election鈥檚 integrity is an 鈥渋nevitable鈥� result of political 鈥渢oxicity鈥� and a tight race.

University of British Columbia professor emeritus Richard Johnston says questions about mail-in votes and the handling of ballots also reflect circumstances south of the border.

He said other factors include use of more complicated voting apparatus and social media platforms where anyone can publish doubts.

鈥淭here is a relationship between the closeness of results and the toxicity of the commentary around it,鈥� Johnston said.

鈥淚 mean, we鈥檙e describing almost exactly the situation in the U.S., right? Basically a 50/50 result, so close that each side might have suspicions about the other.鈥�

The British Columbia election came down to absentee ballots on Monday, after neither Premier David Eby鈥檚 NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives, led by John Rustad, secured a majority.

After a count of mail-in votes over the weekend saw prospects for an NDP victory increase, online posts questioned the number of mail-in and absentee votes, the ballots鈥� origins, the wait between the initial and final counts, and how the votes were handled during that time.

B.C. Conservatives president Aisha Estey said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday that she 鈥渟pent the last two days in a warehouse watching the transcription and counting of mail-in ballots,鈥� and saw nothing problematic.

鈥淓lections BC staff have been working tirelessly and doing their best within the confines of the legislation that governs their work,鈥� Estey said in her post.

鈥淲ould we have liked mail-ins to be counted closer to E-Day? Sure. But I saw nothing that caused me concern.鈥�

Premier and B.C. New Democrat Leader David Eby also took to X on Sunday to express support for Elections BC staff 鈥渕aking sure every vote gets counted.鈥�

Elections BC did not respond directly to questions about the integrity of the process, only saying that the final vote count was continuing on Monday.

Johnston said Elections BC鈥檚 efforts to make voting more accessible and counting more efficient had actually been feeding integrity doubts.

He said increased use of advance voting, mail-in and absentee ballots, as well as digital vote tabulation, were being compared unfavourably by some with more basic voting and hand-counting systems used in the past.

鈥淏asically, the whole voting process was simpler,鈥� Johnston said. 鈥淵ou had to turn up on election day. You had to have a reason for voting in advance polls 鈥� and you really had to basically make a declaration that you were going to have either a surgical procedure or you could not avoid being out of the constituency on election day.

鈥淭he count may take a long time on election day if it鈥檚 a particularly close riding,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut 鈥� there鈥檚 a sense in which all the players who were on the ballot were in a position that was easily interpretable as verifying the facts. Everybody had an interest in defending its side, and the result would be in a sense accurate and fair.鈥�

Dominion Voting Systems, which manufactured the electronic tabulators used in the B.C. election, referred questions to its website page dedicated to misinformation about the company and its technology. It addresses concerns about misinformation that emerged after the U.S. presidential election in 2020.

Fox News agreed last year to pay Dominion nearly US$800 million to avert a trial in the company鈥檚 lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the election.

鈥淎ll Dominion systems are based on voter-verifiable paper ballots or paper records for auditing,鈥� the company said on its web page. 鈥淒ominion systems comply with all requirements for system updates and election records retention.鈥�

Johnston also said the very idea of making voting more accessible could create a 鈥渂ackground for paranoia,鈥� as doubters questioned the nature and origins of people who would not otherwise have been able to vote.

鈥淗istorically, paranoia about the conduct of elections has hardly been peculiar to the right wing of the political landscape,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also been a feature on the left. It kind of depends on who wins and who loses.

鈥淚f you were to go back 20 years and look forward, I think a lot on the left would be shocked that it would be people on the left who are defending the integrity of the establishment, so to speak.鈥�

One major difference with discourse in the United States, Johnston said, was that B.C. party leaders, such as Estey, had so far not engaged in 鈥渄elegitimization tactics.鈥�

Whether that changes would be something to watch for, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see whether there鈥檚 blowback from the fringes of the Conservative Party against the party鈥檚 own leadership,鈥� he said.

He added: 鈥淟et鈥檚 see whether there are any dynamics inside the Conservative Party over the next few days that makes John Rustad worried that perhaps the party president鈥檚 acceptance of the process was premature from a political point of view.鈥�