On B.C. election night on October 24, the provincial Greens were celebrating a breakthrough.

That's because their candidate in West Vancouver–Sea to Sky was leading by more than 600 votes. Geological and environmental Jeremy Valeriote seemed destined to become the first B.C. Green MLA from the mainland part of B.C.

He's a former councillor in Gibsons.

But the final count of absentee and mail-in ballots delivered a huge number of votes to the B.C. Liberal incumbent, Jordan Sturdy, a farmer and former mayor of Pemberton.

Now, Sturdy is up 41 votes over Valeriote, according to Elections B.C.

Under the Election Act, a judicial recount must be held. That's because the difference between the two top candidates was less than 1/500th of all ballots cast.

The third-place finisher, the NDP's Keith Murdoch, trails Sturdy by 3,042 votes.

https://twitter.com/SoniaFurstenau/status/1325293068845604864

So instead of electing three MLAs, the B.C. Green caucus could be narrowed down to its two members before the election: leader Sonia Furstenau and former interim leader Adam Olsen, who were both reelected.

It may mean that the B.C. Greens won't receive official party status.

That would deprive the party of funding for a second office in Vancouver and an additional $27,756.05 per year for Furstenau as the third-party leader on top of her $111,023.19 salary as an MLA.

The third-party whip and third-party caucus chair would receive an extra $11,102.42 on top of their MLA salary if the B.C. Greens were to be awarded official party status.

Normally, this designation is granted to parties with four MLAs.

However, the B.C. Greens received official party status with three MLAs after the 2017 election.

In 2001 after the B.C. NDP elected only two MLAs, the B.C. Liberals refused to grant the opposition official party status.