Senator says 'onus is on Elections Canada' to educate voters, given high number of rejected ballots

In the wake of a recount in a tightly contested federal riding in rural Newfoundland, a longtime politician says Elections Canada needs to do a better job educating people on how to vote.

An unprecedented number of disputed ballots in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding forced a lengthy delay on the outcome of what was among the tightest races in this year's federal election.

More than 41,000 people voted in the newly named riding. After a marathon recount, 819 ballots were ultimately rejected, according to the Elections Canada website.

Fabian Manning, a senator and former Newfoundland and Labrador MHA and Conservative MP, said he's never seen so many ballots rejected.

"When I look at the numbers of people who voted in the election, the numbers were much larger than they were in my campaigns," he told CBC News.

He said there's no doubt in his mind that there was confusion among voters over the difference between federal and provincial ballots. Manning was in Marystown for the full two days of the recount as a scrutineer.

Elections Canada ballots are grey, with white rectangles containing each candidate's name and party. A white circle to the right of each rectangle is where voters are supposed to mark their choice.

A recount was ordered by Elections Canada after the initial tally following the April 28 federal election showed Liberal candidate Anthony Germain ahead of Conservative Jonathan Rowe by 12 votes. Rowe was declared the winner on May 23 by that same margin. 

In his decision released on Monday, Justice Garrett Handrigan wrote that on many of the disputed ballots — maybe as many as half — voters had left their mark in the rectangular box. In some of these so-called "rectangle ballots," voters had also left a mark in the circle.

Manning said the Canadian Elections Act states a mark has to be made behind the candidate's name and doesn't stipulate if it's an X, check mark or initial, as long as it doesn't identify the voter.

But in Newfoundland and Labrador provincial elections, voters can use an X or a check by the name on a ballot to signify who they are voting for.

"People may think that, you know, put a check mark next to the person's name and that ballot is counted," said Manning.

In contrast, a federal ballot is rejected if a mark isn't in the circle.

"The Elections Canada people in the polling station and the judge, under the Canadian Elections Act, would not be allowed to accept that," said Manning.

"That's why I think we ended up with a lot of rejected ballots."

Manning says there are signs posted at polling stations telling people how to mark their ballots, but he worries the process isn't explained very well to people, especially seniors.

He said there was a high number of rejected ballots across the country.

"I believe that the onus is on Elections Canada to educate … people on the process."

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