More allegations of corruption during Behchoko, N.W.T., election

More people have come forward with allegations of corruption during this summer's election for chief and council of Behchoko, N.W.T.

Five people ran for the Tlicho community's top job on June 12. Leon Lafferty lost to incumbent Clifford Daniels by 36 votes. Lafferty is asking for the N.W.T. Supreme Court to overturn the election results because he claims the election was mismanaged.

• Former chief candidate wants recent Behchoko, N.W.T., election overturned

As part of his case, Lafferty gathered five sworn statements from people who claim to have witnessed corruption and mismanagement on voting day. Four of those people were scrutineers for Lafferty, tasked with overseeing the voting process. The fifth is a Tlicho Government employee who was working at a polling station.

Lafferty has also gathered 377 signatures from people in Behchoko who say they want a new election.

Drunk voters, others turned away

Rules about how people are supposed to vote, what's done with the ballots and how they're counted are set out in the N.W.T.'s Local Authorities Election Act. In statements filed with the court, the five people allege many of those rules were broken.

One of the scrutineers says they weren't allowed to be at the ballot box when the votes were counted. They also say they saw polling stations left unattended several times on voting day and that some voters were turned away because no officials were present to process their votes. 

They also say people who were extremely intoxicated and could barely stand were allowed to vote.

The scrutineers also claim that during the counting of the ballots, they weren't allowed to inspect the spoiled ballots that were thrown out and weren't told how many ballots were thrown out.

In her sworn statement, the polling clerk says she saw several of the ballot boxes left unlocked after the count happened, which goes against the Election Act.

Interpreter swaying votes

One scrutineer, Jane Lafferty, claims she saw translators hired to help non-English speaking voters persuading people to vote for the incumbent, Chief Daniels.

"The interpreter followed elderly and disabled people into the voting booth, when announcing the candidates' names, she was saying Clifford Daniels's name the loudest... she did not announce the other names loud enough for the voter to hear, so they kept saying 'Who? Who?' And she kept saying Clifford Daniels and tapping her finger on the ballots... and kept saying Clifford Daniels is the existing chief."

Daniels declined to comment.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. The Community Government of Behchoko, which is named in the suit, has yet to file anything giving its side of the story. 

The two sides will appear in court on Sept. 22 to see what the next step is.