Arguments are being heard in court in St. John’s today which touch on the very fabric of democracy – the ability to vote in an election.
Alison Coffin, who fell 53 votes short in the last provincial election in St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi, is hoping that the judge hearing the case will choose to send it to trial.
John Abbott, who is currently a cabinet minister, won the contest.
That was the COVID election, called by Premier Andrew Furey in the winter. However, things quickly unraveled when people hired to work the polling stations began quitting. It became a mail-in ballot process, but with many examples of defects.
Coffin’s test case is Whymarrh Whitby, who she says did everything in his power to get a ballot, but could not.
She says they have identified a number of people who applied and were eligible but could not get a ballot. Then, she says, there are a bunch of people who voted but voted in the wrong district in St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi even though they weren’t eligible.
“And then they were more people who got a ballot but did not present the proper I.D. to do that,” she told VOCM Open Line with Linda Swain.
Two PC candidates – Jim Lester in Mount Pearl and Sheila Fitzgerald on the Northern Peninsula – are also challenging the election results via the legal system.
