Closing arguments have begun in the battle over last fall’s provincial election results in the riding of Saint John Harbour.
Gerry Lowe won the seat by 10 votes over Barry Ogden, who wants the results to be thrown out.
He alleges there were 71 instances of voting irregularities due to mistakes by Elections New Brunswick officials and others.
During closing arguments Tuesday morning, Kelly VanBuskirk, Ogden’s lawyer, cited numerous examples of people being given two ballots — one special ballot and one again on election day — being sworn in despite living outside of the district, or not filling out the voter registration form properly.
His other lawyer, Matt Letson, also cited numerous different cases in Canadian justice that involved voting irregularities.
Letson ended by saying, “It is our submission that electoral procedures were not followed under the New Brunswick Elections Act and may well have affected the outcome of the election.”
In their closing statement, the lawyers said the question becomes whether or not the electoral system had safeguards in place to prevent two ballots being issued to a voter.
No Grounds To Set Aside Results
Lawyers representing Lowe, who began their closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, said there are no grounds to set aside the election results.
Thomas O’Neil said there is no evidence Lowe or anyone on his behalf did anything wrong, and the only allegation is the “procedural errors.”
Ogden’s lawyers said there were instances where unique voter numbers were used more than once, suggesting more than 20 people voted twice.
But Tim McLaughlin, who is also representing Lowe, said “clerical errors” are the most likely cause for the duplicate numbers.
McLaughlin went on to say it is “speculation” to say the voter numbers are proof people cast more than one ballot or impersonated people who already voted.
Lowe’s lawyers will continue their closing arguments Wednesday morning.
With files from Kevin Worrell and Brad Perry
