B.C. Liberal candidate accused of seeking personal info to request mail-in ballots for voters

A B.C. Liberal Party candidate in the Lower Mainland is alleged to have attempted to collect personal information to request mail-in ballots for voters, a punishable offence under the Elections Act. 

The B.C. NDP filed a complaint against Garry Thind, who's running in Surrey-Fleetwood, Elections BC said in a statement.

In a letter addressed to Elections BC, lawyer Rachel Roy says dozens of members of a WhatsApp group called "Garry Thind-Fleetwood" were asked to collect information including names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and a piece of government-issued identification from voters.

Screen shots show Garry Thind is listed as one of the administrators of the group. 

"As a team our main task is to register as many voters as we can by ordering ballots in mail," reads a message to the group chat from someone named Baldeep Jhand.

"Please identify all voters in Fleetwood."

In an email, B.C. Liberal Party spokesperson Carlie Pochynok said a campaign volunteer gave "team members" incorrect instructions in an effort to help voters request their mail-in ballots. 

"The campaign team has now made clear to volunteers that all voters must request their own ballot personally. This will be reinforced through continued instructions and training going forward," she said.

Voters must request mail-in ballots themselves

Voting by mail is available to all registered voters in B.C. this election due to COVID-19, but voters must request a mail-in ballot themselves through the Elections BC website. 

Voters need to provide personal information to receive a mail-in ballot, including a government-issued ID to identify themselves, and they must sign their envelope before sending it back.

Elections BC says it screens vote-by-mail package requests for suspicious patterns.

Anyone convicted of requesting a mail-in ballot on behalf of another person could be liable to $20,000 fine, two years of imprisonment, or both.

They could also be banned from holding office as MLA for up to seven years and from voting for seven years.

A spokesperson for Elections BC says it takes every complaint it receives seriously, but there is no evidence to suggest requests for mail-in ballots were made on a voter's behalf in this instance. 

Elections BC has contacted Thind's campaign and the B.C. Liberal Party, which denied the allegations, Watson added.

Thind did not immediately respond to CBC's request for comment.

The B.C. Liberal Party sent an email to candidates and their teams reminding them of the process for mail-in voting.

"Campaign workers are not permitted to request vote-by-mail packages on behalf of voters," the email said.

"Requesting a vote-by-mail package on behalf of a voter, with or without their explicit consent, is a violation of the Election Act."

'Very serious' allegations

On Wednesday morning, Ravi Kahlon, B.C. NDP candidate for Delta-North, said the allegations were "very serious."

He said B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson needs to explain what happened or fire Thind as a candidate.

Kahlon said he finds it hard to believe Thind did not know about the message, which was delivered to close to 100 people in a group chat in which he was one of the administrators. 

"There's no need for any candidate to be collecting a person's social insurance number, their health care card number," Kahlon said.

"All these things that are being collected are things that you would collect if you are trying to get a ballot."

When asked about the issue Wednesday morning, Wilkinson said he didn't want to speculate on what happened but expects to have more "clarity" from Elections BC in the coming days.

"It's the obligation of candidates to follow the law and we expect that of them," Wilkinson said.

"And as this unfolds, we will see if Elections BC has a position, that we will, of course, respect."