NDP calls for inquiry into limited polling stations and long waits on election night

The letter of complaint alleges that some polling stations opened late "or not at all," disenfranchising voters, many of whom were in Indigenous communities.

The NDP has requested an official inquiry into what it calls “numerous and systemic failures of election officials” in last month’s federal election.

NDP national director Anne McGrath has written to Canada’s elections commissioner, Yves Cote, calling for an investigation into whether election officials in a number of ridings failed to follow correct procedures, denying citizens the right to cast their vote on Sept. 20.

The letter of complaint, seen by The Canadian Press, alleges that some polling stations opened late “or not at all,” disenfranchising voters, many of whom were in Indigenous communities.

It says that in Kenora, Ont., Indigenous voters were “significantly disenfranchised” because places where people expected to vote did not open at all, or not until mid-afternoon.

A dossier of failures, compiled by the NDP’s lawyers, has also been sent to Cote, an independent officer who ensures that election law is properly implemented.

His office and Elections Canada were not immediately available for comment.

Vancouver-based law firm Allevato, Quail and Roy, counsel to the NDP, alleges that there were “system-wide failures of election officials to follow election procedures.”

Election-day polls in Indigenous communities including Cat Lake, Poplar Hill and Pikangikum “simply never materialized,” the NDP says. In Grassy Narrow the polling station opened :over four hours late.”