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With one day until vote, Liberal candidates worry about missing PINs

With voting to pick a new BC Liberal Party leader set to open at 5 a.m. on Feb. 26, concerns continue about members not receiving PIN numbers in the mail.

Kevin Falcon's campaign made their worries public Thursday, releasing a statement saying thousands of Liberals in the interior and north of the province hadn't received the numbers that will allow them to participate in telephone or internet voting.

“We’ve worked hard as a party to sign up thousands of new members, now we must make sure that those people have the chance to vote," the statement quoted Falcon saying.

A Halifax company, Intelivote Systems Inc., is managing the vote. The same company has been hired to manage the NDP's April 17 vote.

The BC Liberal Party website says members should have received their PIN numbers Wednesday or Thursday, and advertises that the 1-888-281-8683 help line will be open starting at 5 a.m. on voting day.

While the Falcon campaign called on the party to put more staff on the help line, Christy Clark's campaign put out a statement this morning saying people were managing to get through and receive new PIN numbers. "Many Christy Clark supporters have informed us that this process takes less than five minutes," it said.

Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett told the CBC the vote might need to be delayed if the problem isn't resolved today.

Representatives of the campaigns were scheduled to meet with party officials about the issue this morning, but the meeting was postponed.

Update, 5:05 p.m.: Liberal Party President Mickey Patryluk announced the vote will proceed despite the concerns about PIN numbers.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.

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