The Liberals had until today, Wednesday, to decide whether to seek a recount in the northern Saskatchewan riding they narrowly lost.
Elections Canada has validated Liberal Lawrence Joseph’s 70-vote loss to New Democrat Georgina Jolibois in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River.
Lawrence’s campaign manager, Daniel Bourque, said validation occurred last Saturday, Oct. 24, giving the Lawrence team until Oct. 28 to ask for a recount.
Bourque confirmed late Monday afternoon that the campaign was still considering the recount option.
He also confirmed the campaign had not ruled out contesting the election, a process that would, if successful, null the results and lead to a by-election.
Joseph says he has received troubling reports of voting delays the night of last week’s federal election.
These are said to have occurred on at least two reserves in the riding, Ahtahkakoop and Big River, the latter being Joseph’s home community.
Joseph said he was told certain polls did not have enough ballots and that delays in obtaining extra ballots deterred some people from voting.
Asked Monday whether the Liberals were still fielding reports of voting problems, Bourque said, “Well, there’s stories, I mean, every day.”
Automatic vote recounts are triggered when the top candidate in a federal election wins by a margin of less than 1/1,000th of total votes cast. Lawrence’s 70-vote loss does not meet that standard.
However, any elector in a riding can go before a judge to request a recount within four days of the result being validated.
Although it’s a rare occurrence, the law also allows any elector to contest an election on the grounds that irregularities impacted the result. The elector must take the case to a judge, who then dismisses the application or invalidates the result of the election.
