Mayencourt "It was the Voters fault"

I could not believe what Lorne Mayencourt had to say today in response to Tim Stevenson challenging the Vancouver-Burrard election results in court. Even Mayencourt who has a knack, dare I say he likely has a patent on saying the wrong thing has stooped to new lows. Likely only Jason Kenny, federal tory MP from Calgary can match Lorne for both arrogance and lack of respect for others.

Mayencourt was asked if the 71 ballots not counted should have been. I expected him to say it was terrible these people lost their vote, not much we can do about it. He did not even come close to that. Mayencourt went onto blame the voters themselves.

Mayencourt said They (the voters) should have voted in the proper polling place, they should have made sure everything was done right, they had the ultimate responsibility.

Lorne Mayencourt, Elections BC people are there to ensure everyone that is eligible to vote can vote. One expects that after the Elections BC polling clerk accepts your ballot that it will be processed properly. Lorne went onto say his team had nothing to do with this, that is not the point. We know his team did not interfere with Elections BC.

We do know that in one polling station, St. John's United Church, 60 ballots were taken, and processed as complete by Elections BC staff. Those staff in accepting the ballot from the voter said to the voter they had successfully voted.

What is significant that the votes were from the St. John's United Church polling place? It is in the heart of the community that overwhelmingly voted for Stevenson over Mayencourt. One or more Elections BC staff people at this polling station made a serious mistake, not once, not twice, not a dozen mistakes but 5 times that many.

I worked the election for the NDP in Kelowna Mission this time out. I know first hand the number of mistakes that were made by the local Elections BC people. They could not even find the paper to swear in a scrutineer, they had problems counting ballots and knowing some of the basic stuff. They screwed up. If the election was closer these actions could have affected the outcome.

Elections BC clearly admits they made a mistake. 71 people in Vancouver-Burrard did get out to vote. They did cast a ballot. They have had that taken away from them because Elections BC did not protect their right to vote. You go get them Tim, another election in Vancouver-Burrard is the only way to address this issue. In the mean time Lorne, blaming the voter this time, is no better a response than lashing out at the gay community which you did when you learned you were behind in the count.

Globe and Mail: NDP candidate wants B.C. election rerun
Winnipeg Sun: B.C. candidate disputes election
CKNW: Stevenson wants courts to call a new election

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