Elections Canada May Illegally Disenfranchise Thousands.

CARLETON PLACE – Scott Reid, Conservative candidate for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, is demanding that Elections Canada correct an error that may influence the outcome of the election in many rural seats across Canada.

Using his own riding as an example, Reid notes that Elections Canada has incorrectly placed thousands of voters in the wrong polls in Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington. Many electors in the riding have received Voter Information Cards that instruct them to vote at polling locations 100 kilometers or more from where they reside. Other individuals, who live in adjoining ridings, have received cards instructing them to vote in Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington. In this case, acting as instructed by Elections Canada would be against the law.

In an effort to correct this, a letter was sent to the Returning Officer on June 13, requesting confirmation that the Returning Officer would instruct Deputy Returning Officers in writing to not turn away voters who turn up at the polling stations closest to their homes. (A copy of this letter is included as an attachment to this press release.) Written instructions are needed in order to ensure that Section 6 of the Canada Elections Act is honoured at each polling station.

Section 6 states:

[E]very person who is qualified as an elector is entitled to have his or her name included in the list of electors for the polling division in which he or she is ordinarily resident and to vote at the polling station for that polling division.

No answer arrived until June 17 at 4:00 pm (less than a day before voting begins at advance polls), when the Scott Reid campaign was informed verbally that people must vote in the division to which they are assigned by Elections Canada, and that they will not be permitted to vote at a poll other than the one to which they have been assigned-no matter how erroneous or geographically distant that assignation.

“This instruction is inconsistent with Section 6 of the Act,” Reid observed. “Elections Canada has no legal authority to forbid people from voting at the polling station for the polling division in which they live. Any Elections Canada official who turns away a voter at the polling station nearest his or her home will be breaking the law.”

Reid added, “This is a serious situation which I fear could affect the outcome of the vote in this riding. The strong evidence that similar problems are occurring in other ridings means that their outcomes could also be affected.”

For more information or to speak with Mr. Reid
Please call (613) 257-8130 or (613) 947-2277.

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