NDP MP Niki Ashton’s campaign team filed a formal complaint with Elections Canada following the Oct. 19 federal election, alleging that a polling station in Fairford reported more people voting than were on the electors’ list and that elections officials made comments that revealed bias and also may have targeted certain people in order to prevent them from voting.
A Nov. 19 letter from Ashton’s campaign manager Blair Hudson to Elections Canada identified five concerns about how the election for the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding was conducted at polling station number 90.
“1. Our campaign has been told that 558 and 561 voters voted in Fairford, as shown on the copy of statements of the vote for candidates & representatives,” said the letter. “Our records indicate this is approximately 300 more people than we identified on the electors' list. While we recognize many people living in First Nations are not registered voters we have cause for concern that people voting were ineligible to vote in this poll.
2. Our campaign was also informed that the number 558 includes the advanced poll numbers for Lake St. Martin, Dauphin River and Little Saskatchewan. However this should not be the case as Lake St. Martin and Dauphin River voted in different polls in Winnipeg. Knowing that Little Saskatchewan had a poll #89 on the reserve we have no records to show that there was a poll in Winnipeg, however the numbers from our voters list shows a discrepancy of 50+ on the final tally sheet.
3. Our scrutineer in Fairford overheard an Election Day worker tell the local Returning Officer ‘Be careful. The NDP is here watching.’ I am sure you will agree that this statement is cause for concern.
4. We have been notified by at least one person in Fairford that prior to walking to the booth to fill in her ballot, they were encouraged to vote Liberal. The person in turn reported it to our scrutineering officer. The person who heard this felt it was likely that the same message was given to others too.
5. We have been notified that Elections Canada representatives in Fairford were not consistent in asking for correct ID from people. It is feared that certain people were targeted and were told that they couldn't vote even though they brought the right ID.”
Ashton says some of the allegations are serious ethical and legal breaches, if true.
“It really is a question of ethical conduct and obviously there's also the law in terms of the conduct of federal elections,” Ashton told the Thompson Citizen. “That kind of a statement [telling someone to vote Liberal] is entirely inappropriate and would contravene the Elections Act. This was an official. This wasn't somebody in the polling station.”
She also points out that the concerns were brought to her team by people in Fairford.
“It's about a community that expressed real concern about the way the election was conducted in their own community, a federal election that was conducted in their own community,” said Ashton. “The kinds of things that we heard happened simply can't happen again and obviously we hope to find out exactly what is behind this discrepancy in the numbers.”
Ashton says she know people who worked on the regional elections team in the riding and knows that they work hard and that Elections Canada could do more to support training for elections workers in the lead-up to a campaign. And while there were other issues like insufficient ballots reported at some other polling stations in the riding, she says Fairford is the only one she heard allegations like this about.
“It's pretty shocking,” Ashton said. “This is not a case where it's a lack of capacity or lack of awareness. Everybody knows that that kind of conduct is unacceptable when you're an elections official. It is unheard of. I've never heard of this happening in an election in our region.”
“We all trust that [the election]'s going to be done properly and people there are obviously very concerned that it wasn't and are troubled, as are we, by some of the things that took place on that day,” Ashton says. “They're keen to see a comprehensive review and so are we.”
