Former MLA who was accused of meddling with referendum defends actions
Posted October 24, 2018 11:26 am.
Last Updated October 24, 2018 11:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
POWELL RIVER (NEWS 1130) – A former MLA who used social media to point out the province’s referendum on Electoral Reform can be corrupted says she has no regrets.
Judi Tyabji — who lives in Powell River — posted a video online suggesting tossed out mail-in ballots can be compromised.
“I’m wide open to the option of restructuring democracy, but it needs to be done in an extremely careful and accountable way,” she told NEWS 1130. This way is not careful or accountable.”
Elections B.C. has determined Tyabji didn’t commit any violations when she posted the video, in which she asked people to help her collect discarded voter packages.
“We just had province-wide local elections and I live in a small town and when I walked in to vote, they said, ‘Hi Judi. We need two pieces of ID before you can vote.’ That is the minimum requirement of identification verification before we completely restructure our general election system in British Columbia,” she said.
“I guess I struck a nerve with my comments the process is open to fraud. Anyone who had an intent to defraud the process has a wide open opportunity to do so.”
Tyabji says she supports some form of proportional representation, and adds she has no intention of tampering with mail.
Elections B.C. staff say several fraud-detection safeguards are in place and anyone who votes more than once or casts a ballot on someone else’s behalf is subject to ‘serious penalties.”
