This is an atrocious story out of Guelph:
No votes cast Wednesday in a special ballot at the University of Guelph should stand, according to the Conservative Party of Canada.
The party wrote Elections Canada on Thursday to request that none of the votes collected during the U of G session be included in the final tally of votes in the Guelph riding. The letter was sent by lawyer Arthur Hamilton, of Toronto-based law firm, Cassels Brock.
In his letter, Hamilton alleges the polling station was illegal and also that partisan election material was present at it, which is a violation of the Canada Elections Act.
The polling station in question was located on the main floor of University Centre, where approximately 700 students cast sealed ballots.
Elections Canada media advisor James Hale said this was the third election during which the University of Guelph held a special ballot on campus. And this is the first time it’s ever been challenged, Hale said.
And then there’s this part which is even worse:
Several University of Guelph students claim Michael Sona, the communications director for Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke, attempted to put a stop to voting at the special ballot held Wednesday.
The students say Sona approached the Elections Canada balloting site claiming that the process unfolding at the location was illegal and at one point reached for but never took possession of a container with ballots.
“He tried to grab for the ballot box. I’m not sure he got his hand on the box, but he definitely grabbed for it,” said Brenna Anstett, a student, who at the time of the reported incident was sealing her second of two envelopes containing her vote.
Student Claire Whalen was just about to receive her ballot just before 5 p.m. when the episode unfolded.
“That’s when a guy came up and said it was an illegal polling station and that he was confiscating the ballots. And then he tried to take (the ballot box),” Whalen said.
Interfering with democratically cast ballots? This is Canada not some developing country that has rigged elections with candidates stuffing ballot boxes or destroying ballots cast by voters.U of Guelph had 700 students vote, that’s a behavior that we should be encouraging among youth not suppressing. But the Conservative strategy seems to be voter suppression so the last thing they want to see if people engaged and voting. Apparently this is especially true of young people.
