Investigation in Surrey-Fleetwood finds ‘no evidence of corrupt voting’: Elections BC
Posted October 3, 2020 4:53 pm.
Last Updated October 3, 2020 4:56 pm.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — An investigation into allegations that a candidate was illegally requesting mail-in ballots on voters’ behalf in the Surrey-Fleetwood riding has found “no evidence of corrupt voting,” according to Elections BC.
A lawyer representing the BC NDP contacted Elections BC on Sept. 29 requesting an investigation into Liberal candidate Garry Thind.
“The request expressed concerns that the campaign of BC Liberal candidate Garry Thind was possibly gathering personal information to illegally request vote-by-mail packages.No fraud in Surrey,” says a statement from Elections BC.
“Under the Election Act, voters must request their own vote-by-mail package. It is an offence to obtain a ballot on behalf of another voter.”
After interviewing those involved, and looking at data about mail-in ballots the file was closed because “no evidence of improper vote-by-mail package requests was found.”
Ravi Kahlon, who is running for reelection as the NDP MLA for North Delta says he still wants answers from Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson.
This morning, I wrote to Andrew Wilkinson seeking clarity on Garry Thind's role in the plan to illegally request mail-in ballots on behalf of other people.
Thind was an administrator in the group where the activity took place. Wilkinson can't casually dismiss this. pic.twitter.com/8x2cRtttVe
— Ravi Kahlon (@KahlonRav) October 1, 2020
“We thank Elections BC for their investigation and we are pleased that there is no evidence of anyone voting through the fraudulent methods promoted by those on Garry Thind’s campaign,” he writes in a statement.
“Yet Andrew Wilkinson has still not explained what Garry Thind knew about this plan, and they have provided no evidence that he acted to correct this instruction until it became public.”
With files from Toby Kerr and Kareem Gouda
