Recount challenges Lutsel K'e election
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 24, 2014
LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT
A new election could be announced this week in the vote for chief of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation, says the band's chief electoral officer.
Graeme Drew, who is also Lutsel K'e's senior administrative officer and band manager, said it was believed Archie Catholique received the most votes in the March 14 election after elections staff in other communities with eligible voters phoned in the results.
But Drew said when the ballots were sent to Lutsel K'e later in the week and he and an RCMP officer counted them, the results were not the same.
"As soon as we received both those packages, myself as electoral officer, we followed the procedure like the election code says and opened those at the RCMP office with the RCMP officer in attendance," he said. "It turned out that we came up with a slightly different total than what was reported to us on the phone."
Drew said election rules stipulated that ballots were to be marked with an X in a box to the right of the candidate's name and photograph. When staff counted the ballots, nine of them had boxes filled in with a checkmark or other symbol and those votes were discounted as spoiled ballots.
Drew said after receiving legal advice and reviewing Elections Canada rules, a public recall was held at the community hall in Lutsel K'e on March 22. Drew said he, nominees and an RCMP officer sat at a table and counted the ballots one by one. Drew looked at them first then handed each one to every nominee or the person the nominee had chosen to act as scrutinizer. Once they accepted the ballot as valid, the officer marked the votes on a white board.
Drew said ballot boxes that were plainly marked - no matter which symbol was used - were considered valid.
"As long as it is clearly marked what the intent of the voter is, then we deemed those valid," he said. Only two ballots ended up being considered spoiled, instead of nine.
The result was a tie between Archie Catholique and Felix Lockhart, who each received 63 votes. The original tally following the vote had been 63 for Catholique and 60 for Lockhart.
Drew said Lutsel K'e's new election code, which came into effect this year, does not yet have stipulations on the procedure in the event of a tie.
But, he said the committee will probably be limited to two choices, to either hold a bi-election between Catholique and Lockhart or to order a whole new election.
He said the election code states a decision must be made within 10 days of the election, so the committee must decide by Monday, March 24.
Drew also said the date to elect councillors, which was originally scheduled to take place on April 11, will also have to change. He said the committee would have to decide whether to hold the election for chief and council separately or at the same time.
Also in the running for chief were Steven Nitah, who received 55 votes, Antoine Michel, 13 votes, George Marlowe, 21 votes and Stan Desjarlais, 18 votes. Current chief Dora Enzoe did not run in the election.
Drew said as per the new code, individuals also had five days to dispute the result of the election in writing to the electoral officer and elections committee. Drew said he received dispute letters by deadline.
Drew said he could not disclose how many letters were received or what they contained, but said the allegations were significant.
"What I will tell you is that the contents of the dispute letters received were substantial and relevant towards seriously considering the validity of the election," he said.
Drew said he will include the letters and the new election results in his report to the committee. The committee will then have the final decision about how to proceed, which is expected to be announced today.
Drew said he believes the experience will help guide future elections in the community, as well as other communities implementing their own election codes.
"There is obviously a lot of interest in the process to ensure it's a fair and just election," he said.
"Once the dust settles and this gets looked back upon, I think it's a positive step in ensuring there is a high standard in terms of fairness and honesty when it comes to elections."
Enzoe will stay on as chief until a new one is elected.
