It was “unfortunate” a record number of Canadians had their votes uncounted in the September election, said Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perreault..Blacklock’s Reporter said Elections Canada will track thousands of ballot kits reported as unused, he said..“Obviously any late ballot is unfortunate,” Perreault told the House affairs committee. “These are people who wanted to cast a ballot, but we were not able to count them.”.“We’ve never had such a large scale vote-by-mail operation. We are looking at every angle to see how it can be improved in the future.”.Records show a record 1.3 million electors in Canada and abroad asked for mail-in ballot kits in the September 20 campaign. Elections Canada shipped 123,000 kits on or after September 13, leaving little time for citizens to return them by mail..Overall some 205,000 mail-in ballots went uncounted according to Elections Canada’s Report On The 44th General Election. It included 90,000 “returned late and not counted” and another 114,583 that were never returned..“The separation within the 114,000 between those who simply chose not to vote and those who chose to vote by another means is something we need to look into,” testified Perrault..“To do that we have to pry open all of the bags coming back from all the parts of the country..“That is a long process I am confident we will be able to report on that.”.The number of 205,000 uncounted mail-in ballot kits was greater than the 190,790-vote margin of victory on election day..“The number that weren’t returned on time, there was a significant number,” Conservative MP Eric Duncan (Stormont-Dundas, Ont.) told the House affairs committee..Elections Canada claimed it was prepared for a mammoth mail-in ballot campaign in the 2021 campaign, the first federal pandemic election. As many as five million mail-in ballot kits were printed with pre-paid postage..“We are prepared to do an election if it were called tomorrow,” Perreault testified at the House affairs committee November 11, 2020..Elections Canada was “in a constant state of readiness,” he said. “Being ready to administer an election is at the core of Election Canada’s mandate.”.“I wish to reassure members that Elections Canada is prepared to deliver a safe election under the current existing legislation,” Deputy Electoral Officer Michel Roussel testified last June 18. “I want to assure you we would be prepared to hold an election should one happen.”.“Yes, we would have an election run safely,” said Roussel. “We are prepared for that,” he added: “Elections Canada is ready.”
