A judge on Friday said he will order a count of ballots in the driving of Windsor, Tecumseh, Lakeshore, where the conservative candidate won for less than 100 votes in the federal elections of April 28.
The judge of the Superior Court of Ontario, J. Ross Macfarlane, said he was satisfied that the legal team that represents the Irek Kusmierczyk of the liberals had provided enough evidence to justify a judicial count.
“I am prepared to grant the order,” Macfarlane said during the Audience hearing on Friday, which took place on Zoom. The count is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
Kusmierczyk told reporters after the hearing that he was grateful for the judge’s decision.
“We have an opportunity. That’s all we ask,” said Kusmierczyk outside a court in the center of Windsor. “Now it depends on the counting equipment and the council so that we see those ballots and make those arguments.”
The margin between Kusmierczyk, which had served as deputy of the riding since 2019, and the conservative candidate Kathy Borrelli was only 77 votes, only seven less that trigger an automatic count, based on the total number of votes cast in the driving.
“At the end of the day, what we are looking for is clarity and confidence for this community in the results of the elections,” said Kusmierczyk.
The electoral scrutineers formally indicate that they saw poorly rejected votes
According to more than 500 of the approximately 70,000 ballots released in the driving. Canada elections.
Jeff Hewitt, a lawyer who represented Kusmierczyk at the judicial hearing on Friday, cited more than a dozen sworn statements of scrutinery of the Kusmierczyk campaign, who said they noticed the rejected tickets that believe they were really valid.
Some of those rejections included ballots in which the voter had marked an X in the circle next to the name of Kusmierczyk, but had made additional marks, such as verification marks, circles or written messages.
Since the legal teams did not have access to the rejected tickets in themselves, the scrutineers recreated the brands on the replica tickets to illustrate them on the court.
Hewitt argued that the voter’s intention was clear in those cases, and that the tickets did not contain any information that identifies the voter, which would disqualify the vote under Canadian electoral rules.
He law It stipulates that a judge must order a count if it seems that, based on a affidavit of a credible witness, “an electoral officer has incorrectly counted or rejected any vote,” or has made an error in the declaration of the vote.
Hewitt argued that both scenarios had occurred in driving, although he made it clear that he was not accusing the electoral workers of any bad environment.
Look | The result of the elections of a Windsor-Essex driving is being challenged. How would a judicial count work?
The liberal candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh Lakeshore is disputing the recent federal results of driving elections. Pratyush Dayal of CBC Windsor breakd down how a judicial count would work if it is given an approval.
Borrelli: ‘My team will completely cooperate’
“From the beginning we knew we had questions, and we knew that we saw that there were tickets that had been mistakenly rejected, and those numbers were adding,” Kusmierczyk said after the audience.
Eli Mogil, Borrelli’s lawyer, also participated in the audience and had not disagreed with Hewitt’s arguments.
Borrelli said in a statement sent by email that respects the judge’s decision. “My team will completely cooperate in everything that is required,” he said.
Mogil and the judge discussed the need to hold the count during the week after the day of Victoria, since the key officials of the party and the elections of Canada are already involved with the counts in other cables the week of May 12.
They also talked about ensuring that the process is complete before Parliament returns on May 26.
Canada elections confirmed Friday that the count will begin on May 20 at an office in Green Valley Plaza in Tecumseh.
Borrelli’s lawyers, Kusmierczyk and Canada elections will meet next May 12 to finish the details.
Kusmierczyk Confident 77-Vote the difference will change after counting
Kusmierczyk said that “absolutely and unequivocally” will accept the results of the count, but believes that he can close the leadership of 77 votes that Borrelli currently maintains him on him.
“We are sure that we are going to find those votes, but all we ask is a photo and a second look, and that is what they granted us,” said the former deputy.
“Now it’s like the playoffs. You struggled to enter this opportunity, have this opportunity. And now it depends on our volunteers again, our counting equipment, our advice, to ensure it.”
