Elections BC gives extensions to 39 late voters 2011, position, received, because

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Elections BC gives extensions to 39 late voters
Dave White Aug 15, 2011 17:49:58 PM
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VICTORIA (NEWS1130) - Elections BC has revealed that 39 voters were given extensions on their HST ballot because they hadn't received one by the August 5 mail-in deadline.

The overseeing body says it had no responsibility to inform voters who were in a similar position that the extension option was available.

Extensions were only given to those who got their ballot after the mail-in deadline and complained, not those who just didn't make the deadline. The ballots were accepted but Elections BC says it had no responsibility to inform people who hadn't yet received a ballot that the option was available.

Fight HST's Bill Tieleman disagrees.
   
"Literally, there were 87,000 phone calls to Elections BC in June and July," he says. "Obviously, thousands of people didn't get their ballot and thousands of people called them.  [Elections BC] has an obligation to each and every one of those people to make sure they got their ballot and they got their right to vote."

He believes 39 is a low-ball number.

"Thirty-nine voters getting an extension when we have three million people who can potentially vote and we have hundreds if not thousands of people who didn't get their ballot, it's really a tiny, tiny fraction and is certainly not the number of people who were disqualified."

He and the NDP are now calling for a public inquiry into the referendum.

New Democrat Maurine Karagianis is also convinced more people were disqualified.
She's joining Fight HST's call for further deadline extensions.

"We need to ensure that every single voter who wanted to participate in this has a fair opportunity to do so.  We know the [1-]800 numbers were jammed in the days of the referendum. If Christy Clark had run this like an election, we wouldn't be having these kind of issues arise."

News1130 first learned about the extensions when a Cranbrook woman told us a Liberal MLA helped her send her late-to-arrive HST ballot to Elections BC.
   
Annette Lagasse says her HST ballot didn't come until August 9th, four days after the deadline.
She says that's despite numerous calls to get one.
   
"I was mad.  I have the right to vote in this country and I had to fight for it.," she tells us.

That's until she went to Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett, who she claims directed her to a special address at Elections BC to make sure her ballot didn't end up in a late pile.

"He didn't ask me whether I was voting for or against. He didn't say, 'Hey, if you're voting against I'm not going to help you out."

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Lagasse says rather, he provided her with the address of an Elections BC operations manager.

She claims Bennett assured her it wouldn't end up in a "late pile."

Lagasse is annoyed by the whole ordeal.

"Democracy works when everybody gets to vote," she says. "So if through circumstances beyond their control, for example, Canada Post being late with ballots getting through, and they can't make sure democracy is met, then they should extend the deadline. They should extend the deadline as many times as it takes."

Meanwhile, Tieleman says Fight HST is still receiving complaints.

It has documented everything from people not getting ballots, to beefs with the way the whole referendum was run.

Bill Bennett's office isn't commenting and we are still waiting to hear from the Smart Tax Alliance.

Retired University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff says if Elections BC doesn't make sure the same rules apply to everyone, and the margin of victory is close enough, the referendum could face a BC Supreme Court challenge.

"If there's a wide margin, this probably isn't going very far, but if it's close then the whole referendum could be in some jeopardy," he says.

"One fundamental rule is you want to maximize people's access to the ballot box, but if you are going to bend the rules... that flexibility has to apply to everyone."

He says Elections BC can avoid a charter challenge by deciding to count all late-to-arrive ballots, or not count them at all.


http://www.elections.bc.ca/
http://fighthst.com/
http://www.bill-bennett.ca/