The shipment of mail-in ballot kits to 123,000 voters was delayed by Elections Canada until less than one week before election day, despite Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perreault having said his agency was fully prepared to conduct a pandemic election, says Blacklock’s Reporter.
“We are prepared to do an election if it were called tomorrow,” Perreault testified at the House affairs committee in November 2020, adding that Elections Canada was “in a constant state of readiness.”
The agency, however, revealed tens of thousands of qualified voters asked for mail-in ballot kits which were not shipped by Elections Canada until September 13 and later. The election was held on September 20.
“We sent approximately 5,000 mail-in ballot kits to electors living abroad on or after September 13,” said Matthew McKenna, spokesperson for the agency. An additional 118,000 were mailed to voters living in Canada over the same period.
“This must be considered a preliminary number,” said McKenna.
Electors, regardless of where they lived, were permitted to apply for mail-in ballots online to “allow Canadians to safely vote in the context of a potential pandemic.”
This was the first election carried out nationwide under pandemic conditions.
Elections Canada did not estimate how many of the 123,000 electors did not have time to return their ballot.
Blacklock’s documented cases in which voters did not receive the paperwork until after election day.
In a January 31 report tabled in Parliament, the agency identified roughly 205,000 mail-in ballots that went uncounted. The number of uncounted votes was greater than the 190,790-vote margin of victory.
Michel Roussel, deputy chief electoral officer, told the House Affairs Committee that Elections Canada was prepared for all potential difficulties.
Advanced polling ended September 13, therefore the 123,000 ballot kits mailed on or after September 13 left electors with no chance to vote in person at advance polls in their home riding.
Reid Small is a BC-based reporter for the Western Standard
Reid Small is a BC Reporter for the Western Standard and West Coast Standard based in the Vancouver Bureau.
He has worked as a freelance photojournalist and in independent media.
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