Key takeaways:
- The Manitoba Progressive Conservatives’ president defends a vote that saw her elected as the party’s leader.
- Glover claims her team was given a spreadsheet with a reduced overall vote tally in the morning.
While Premier Heather Stefanson’s challenger challenges the outcome in court, the president of the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives defends a vote that saw her become the party’s leader.
According to Tom Wiebe, campaign leaders were aware that a spreadsheet emailed out the morning of the election was never intended to represent the final total of votes.
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Shelly Glover, who narrowly lost to Stefanson last month, claims there were errors in the ballot counting process and wants a judge to order a new vote.
Glover’s assertion is backed up by affidavits signed by her scrutineer and two additional supporters.
The Conservative Party has also submitted documentation claiming that the election was free and fair.
This week, these affidavits are being cross-examined at the Court of Queen’s Bench, and Glover’s case will be heard in front of a judge on Dec. 10.
In the Oct. 30 election, Glover, a former Parliament and police officer member received 49 percent of the vote. Stefanson received 51 percent of the vote, out of a total of 16,546 votes cast.
Glover claims her team was given a spreadsheet with a reduced overall vote tally in the morning.
In an affidavit, one of Glover’s vote scrutineers claims to have seen unsecured ballot boxes transported out of the room where votes were counted.
“That spreadsheet was… solely to tell them who had voted,” Wiebe defended the election count.
In another document, a chartered professional accounting firm partner assisted with the voting claims that ballot boxes were removed after the counting was finished.
According to the affidavit, the votes were subsequently transported to a vehicle watched by a security firm before being returned to a secure room at the accounting firm’s premises.
Source: CBC News
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