Judicial recount requested in Calgary Coun. Sean Chu's ward

The Calgary candidate who narrowly lost Ward 4 to Coun. Sean Chu says he has filed an application for a judicial recount of election results. 

Elections Calgary official results say DJ Kelly came second to Chu by just 100 votes in the Oct. 18 election.

Kelly says he filed an application for a judicial recount last week and on Wednesday he received notice that the application had been received. 

Kelly said in a statement posted to his website that this process also appears to be the only mechanism to allow scrutineers or elections officials to view and count ballots. 

Poll results in the 2021 election were counted by electronic vote tabulators, and have been since 2018.

"I hope the court approves this application and that the process is prompt, efficient and removes any doubt about the electoral process and its outcome," Kelly wrote on his website.  

Kelly said there are other "topics of interest around this particular race, but those have no place in this process. The purpose of this application is solely to ensure that all votes cast were counted correctly." 

Chu has been under scrutiny and faced increasing calls for him to step down since Oct. 15. That's when CBC News broke the story that when he was a 34-year-old police officer in 1997, he faced allegations that involved a 16-year-old girl.

CBC News also reported that Chu was involved in a 2008 fight with his wife that ended with police responding and seizing a firearm, confirmed through court records.

Chu has maintained that the matters were investigated and resolved, there were no criminal charges, and he was elected to represent Ward 4 residents.