A democracy expert who previously represented Canada abroad as an election observer was fined $1,250 this week for voting twice in the 2019 Québec elections. Blacklock's Reporter says David Gilchrist, of Montréal, despite his extensive knowledge of the electoral process, was found guilty of breaching the Canada Elections Act.“Gilchrist has an above-average knowledge of the electoral process,” the Commissioner of Canada Elections stated in the notice of penalty. Evidence showed that Gilchrist voted by mail-in ballot in the Notre Dame-de-Grace-Westmount riding and then again using his father’s Voter Information Card at an advance polling station in Saint-Laurent, Quebec. The maximum penalty for this offense is five years’ imprisonment.Neither of Gilchrist’s ballots influenced the election outcomes. Then-Transport Minister Marc Garneau secured victory in Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Westmount by over 22,000 votes, while Liberal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos won in Saint-Laurent by more than 16,000 votes.The commissioner emphasized Gilchrist’s previous role as an international election observer. He served as a liaison officer during the 2004 elections in Ukraine alongside Marion Dewar, former Ottawa mayor and chair of Oxfam Canada. “In Canada, he has worked as an election officer in several municipal, provincial, and federal elections,” the Commissioner noted. “Internationally, he served as regional liaison officer for the Ukraine presidential elections in 2004 and 2014 and acted as an international election observer with the International Civilian Response Corps in Haiti in 2006.”Voting twice is uncommon but not unheard of in Canada. A civil suit in New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench revealed multiple irregularities in the 2018 provincial election in the Saint John Harbour riding. Evidence indicated eight ballots were illegally cast by non-residents, at least one voter cast two ballots without facing charges, and another six voters received ballots without proving they were 18. Additionally, one ballot was assigned to a phantom voter with a fabricated street address and an illegible signature.Judges referencing these New Brunswick irregularities cited a 2012 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that election results may only be overturned with irrefutable proof of “fraud or wrongdoing.” This Supreme Court case involved the 2011 election in Etobicoke Centre, Ontario, where Conservative MP Ted Opitz won by 26 votes. An Ontario Superior Court judge identified 79 irregular ballots and voided the result, but the Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, dismissed these as minor paperwork errors. “Only irregularities that affect the result of the election and therefore undermine the integrity of the electoral process are grounds for overturning an election,” the Court ruled. Opitz subsequently lost re-election by 8,000 votes.
