can i just politely say that stephen harper and his party are the absolute worst thing about canada?
yet another scandal, so expect another modest bump in the polls for the tories:
TheSpec - Conservatives want to dump Guelph U student votes
Conservatives want to dump Guelph U student votes
On campus vote has not been challenged in past
Ballot box Elections Canada Ballot Box No. 2 sits at the polling station at the University of Guelph special ballot Wednesday. The Conservative party now alleges all votes cast and collected in this box should not count in the final tally of votes for the Guelph riding.
Rob O'Flanagan/Guelph Mercury
GUELPH No votes cast Wednesday in a special ballot at the University of Guelph should stand, according to the Conservative Party of Canada.
The party wrote Elections Canada on Thursday to request that none of the votes collected during the U of G session be included in the final tally of votes in the Guelph riding. The letter was sent by lawyer Arthur Hamilton, of Toronto-based law firm, Cassels Brock.
The move has generated considerable controversy at the university, home of the first youth "vote mob" encouraging students to vote.
In his letter, Hamilton alleges the polling station was illegal and also that partisan election material was present at it, which is a violation of the Canada Elections Act.
The polling station in question was located on the main floor of University Centre, where approximately 700 students cast sealed ballots.
Elections Canada media advisor James Hale said this was the third election during which the University of Guelph held a special ballot on campus. And this is the first time it’s ever been challenged, Hale said.
“Part of our mandate is making the vote as accessible as possible. So, we look at outreach programs,” Hale said.
Hale said special ballot polling stations are often held for groups of people who consistently display less-than-average voter turnouts, such as students, First Nations, seniors and the disabled.
“It’s never been challenged, not to my knowledge,” Hale said.
However, it was Wednesday and then again Thursday by the Conservatives.
Several University of Guelph students claim Michael Sona, the communications director for Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke, attempted to put a stop to voting at the special ballot held Wednesday.
The students say Sona approached the Elections Canada balloting site claiming that the process unfolding at the location was illegal and at one point reached for but never took possession of a container with ballots.
“He tried to grab for the ballot box. I’m not sure he got his hand on the box, but he definitely grabbed for it,” said Brenna Anstett, a student, who at the time of the reported incident was sealing her second of two envelopes containing her vote.
Student Claire Whalen was just about to receive her ballot just before 5 p.m. when the episode unfolded.
“That’s when a guy came up and said it was an illegal polling station and that he was confiscating the ballots. And then he tried to take (the ballot box),” Whalen said.
Whalen also identified the man as Sona.
The Guelph Mercury has not been able to verify that it was Sona and has not confirmed the identity of the individual that made the approach witnessed by the students.
Sona, who recently was a University of Guelph student, did not respond to phone calls or emails placed to him Thursday by the newspaper. He was in a meeting Thursday when a reporter stopped by Burke’s campaign office for comment on this story. Burke campaign officials confirmed Sona was aware of the requests for comment. The nature of the story was also described to the Burke campaign in connection with requests to interview Sona.
Burke has not yet made a public comment in connection with the special ballot issues. Requests to interview him in connection with this story did not yield an interview.
Anstett said she filed a complaint with Elections Canada on Thursday morning about the brief disruption the incident caused.
Hale said Anstett’s submission will be reviewed but no formal complaint was made on the matter.
Before the late afternoon incident, the special balloting event was heralded as a success Wednesday by various U of G officials.
Hundreds of students queued to mark ballots at the session. Student interest in the voting was so significant U of G president Alastair Summerlee honoured a pledge to have his face painted blue at the venue if the event garnered enough student participation.
“We were all very happy there was going to be a poll on campus” student voter Yvonne Su said. “I’m not aware of the legalities of it, but I would think Elections Canada would know what they’re doing.”
Some students waited up to two hours to vote. Some studied for final exams while they waited.
Su, an organizer of the Vote Mob action in the city on April 4, said if the ballots are rejected “there will be a lot of really upset students.”
