CSAP election results challenged.
SYDNEY — A hearing date is expected to be set today in connection with a challenge filed to the October election results for the Conseil scolaire Acadien Provincial school board (CASP).
Losing candidate Clermont “Monty” Charland has filed a challenge of the results in Supreme Court. Charland received 1,526 votes against winning candidate Marcel LeFort who received 2,205 in the Oct. 17 election to be the representative on the provincial board for SydneyVictoria.
Charland is asking the court to declare the election void claiming the vast majority of voters who cast ballots were not eligible to vote.
Voting in the CSAP election is restricted to individuals whose first language is French, who received their primary school instruction in Canada in a French-first-language program, an individual who is the parent of a child who has received or receiving primary or secondary school instruction in Canada in a French-first-language program.
Charland claims returning officer Deborah CampbellRyan, who is also the municipal clerk for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, failed to ensure that only those qualified would have a vote and also failed to create a list of qualified electors for the CSAP vote.
In his affidavit, Charland notes that he was the first representative to be elected for the riding in 2000 and only 110 votes were cast. He was subsequently acclaimed in elections held in 2004 and 2008.
In 2012, he said there were three candidates running and 1,536 votes were cast and 2016, there were two candidates with only 383 votes cast.
It was the 2016 election, said Charland, that voters were asked to call a number to confirm their qualifications to vote in the CSAP election.
In the 2020 election, both the regional municipality and Victoria Country opted only to collect votes via telephone or online.
Charland said 4,130 individuals did vote but that most were not qualified. An additional 176 votes were cast in Victoria County.
He also referred to a 2016 Statistics Canada survey that listed 2,965 people in SydneyVictoria as being bilingual and 615 declared their first language as French.
Charland suggested that in the future, there should be a list of eligible voters and online voting should not be an option unless safeguards are implemented to protect the integrity of the vote.
In response, CampbellRyan filed an affidavit claiming that all reasonable steps were taken to explain voting eligibility for CSAP election and all requirements were met under the Municipal Elections Act and the Education (CSAP) Act.
She contended that under the act, she is not permitted to challenge voter eligibility and can only ask an individual to confirm they are eligible to vote in the election.
Further, Campbell-Ryan states there are no provisions in the election or CSAP act that would give the court authority to declare the election void.