A candidate who finished a distant last in this monthB次元官网网址檚 municipal election wonB次元官网网址檛 get a recount.
Ray Farmere, who ran for mayor of the City of Nanaimo, applied to the courts for a judicial recount of the election results, but the application has been dismissed. The case was in court in Nanaimo on Tuesday.
and is mayor-elect, to be sworn in next week. Don Hubbard was runner-up with 6,802 votes and Farmere garnered 365 votes.
Farmere, accompanied by Melissa Nash, his campaign manager, told the court that a viewing screen at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre seemed to show irregularities with his vote count. He said there was a technical error.
B次元官网网址淚 saw on the screen that night about 20,000 for me and then it dropped to 7,000 and then it dropped to 365,B次元官网网址 he said.
Farmere said he was told that the computer at the conference centre shut down at one point.
B次元官网网址淏ut it took two minutes to change it. It takes longer than two minutes for a computer to come up. IB次元官网网址檓 a computer technician. It takes at least five minutes for a computer to come up,B次元官网网址 he said. B次元官网网址淏ut it is long enough to make some changes to the spreadsheet.B次元官网网址
Farmere submitted images of a man to the court, whom he said resembled Santa Claus and whom he said was B次元官网网址渞ipping downB次元官网网址 election signs near Vancouver Island University, which Farmere said is B次元官网网址渉urting peopleB次元官网网址檚 chances.B次元官网网址
Farmere said numbers from the McGirr Elementary School polling station werenB次元官网网址檛 reported properly. He pointed to an election day issue at the school, which delayed preliminary results.
Krog as well as City of Nanaimo chief election officer Sheila Gurrie both spoke in court today. Gurrie said FarmereB次元官网网址檚 application didnB次元官网网址檛 meet the threshold for an application for a recount.
She also said the McGirr issues relate to the machines, but added that they are merely counters and scanning devices and not connected to the internet.
story continues below
RELATED:
RELATED:
mayoral candidate Ray Farmere seeks judicial recount for in .
B次元官网网址 Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin)
Judge Parker MacCarthy agreed that FarmereB次元官网网址檚 application didnB次元官网网址檛 meet the threshold. He said the application didnB次元官网网址檛 have an affidavit B次元官网网址 a sworn statement used as evidence B次元官网网址 to support the facts on which the application was based.
MacCarthy said the deadline for the application was nine days after polls close, which was Monday. Gurrie said city staff were served Monday at 4:25 p.m., while Krog said he was served at 7:15 p.m. at his residence.
B次元官网网址淭he absence of the required affidavit pursuant to B次元官网网址 the Local Government Act in my view is fatal to the application of Mr. Farmere to seek a judicial recount,B次元官网网址 said MacCarthy. B次元官网网址淎ccordingly in my view, his application for a judicial recount must be dismissed.B次元官网网址
Farmere said he consulted with legal advisors at Elections B.C. and Nash said they wonB次元官网网址檛 pursue the matter further.
B次元官网网址淚 guess if I had have had an affidavit, they would have had to have done something further because we have a responsibility to the voters, so thatB次元官网网址檚 what I would have done. I would have been encouraged in taking it through,B次元官网网址 said Farmere.
Krog said Farmere undertaking an application with no basis for any of the allegations was very disappointing.
B次元官网网址淚 looked at the application briefly and I am a lawyer by training and it was clear to me it was grossly deficient both in terms of what the act requires and the fact that it lacked any affidavit in support, which is the standard process for any application in our court system,B次元官网网址 said Krog.
Hubbard was also a respondent named in FarmereB次元官网网址檚 application.
B次元官网网址 with files from Karl Yu