Though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been named winner of the 2021 federal election in Canada, there are still approximately one million votes to be counted, with a record number of mail-in ballots requested this year amid the pandemic.

Some ridings' results are more set in stone, but some have been tighter to call, and could depend on those ballots not yet opened.

Interesting to see how mail-in ballots effect the final results.

— jhmacdonald25 (@jhmacdonald25) September 21, 2021

According to the Canadian Press, no mail-in ballots were touched until today, with the bulk to be tallied on Wednesday. 

But, in parts of the country that are extra remote and/or where there are a particularly large proportion of mail-in votes this year, ultimate results could take until Friday.

Officials need to take an extra step to verify these types of votes, which constitute as voting by special ballot, to make sure that there are no duplicates from the same resident. The signature enclosed also needs to be authenticated.

With a as race this close mail in ballots will be important. I wonder if that’s the last poll we are waiting on.

— Christina RMT Sagesse Massage (@sagessemassage) September 21, 2021

Per CP, more citizens of B.C. chose to vote by mail this year than those in any other province, with some ridings expected to see as many as 12,600+ votes come in this way.

Experts do not believe that special ballots will impact the Liberals' minority government, but could definitely flip a few seats where the competition has been neck-and-neck.