Chris Clegg
South Peace News
A candidate who was defeated in the Dec. 19, 2022 Driftpile Cree Nation election is opposing its results.
April Isadore says she has filed the necessary paperwork and is awaiting word from Indigenous Services Canada on whether her appeal will be accepted. Isadore mailed her appeal to ISC Feb. 7.
Isadore alleges several issues with the election.
“The electoral officer (was) not following the Indian band regulations in regards to the timeframes,” she writes in an email, without going into specifics.
She alleges ballots were mailed out without any initials or signatures, and scrutineers were not able to view declarations or cross reference ballots.
“She roped off the table as the ballots could not be viewed and a previous candidate who was on council last year walked in with a batch of ballots before the polls closed at 8 p.m. and the electoral officer still accepted them even though the scrutineers contested them and a sworn affidavit was submitted that vote buying in fact occurred,” she says.
Isadore also alleges a 2018 band membership list was used for the election.
“Many people on the voter’s list had passed and their families still received ballots,” she says.
Finally, she questions the amount of time it took to count the ballots.
“Counting ballots from 8 p.m. until 2 p.m. the next day, that’s over 18 hours which questions the state of mind or fatigue in counting,” concludes Isadore.
Isadore placed ninth in the election for chief, won by Dwayne Laboucan. Isadore received 23 votes, Laboucan 294. Isadore also placed 14th in a field of 67 candidates for councillor after receiving 132 votes. Nine candidates are elected to council with the ninth place candidate receiving 150 votes in the election.