Calgary candidate alleging voter fraud to hold community town hall on northeast politics
Dan McGarvey | CBC News | Posted: January 18, 2019 2:00 PM | Last Updated: January 19, 2019
Defeated NDP nomination candidate Roop Rai wants to talk democracy at northeast event
A defeated NDP nomination candidate in the riding of Calgary-North East is holding an event this weekend to discuss northeast Calgary politics, against a backdrop of allegations of voter fraud in her own contest.
Roop Rai claims the integrity of her race last month was marred by fraudulent voting from people outside of the riding.
Rai called for an investigation last week over claims that addresses in the riding were falsely used to register NDP memberships. People then went on to vote using doctored identification documents, including bank statements.
In an email to CBC Calgary last week, the NDP provincial secretary Roari Richardson said they stand by their process.
"We followed scrupulous identification requirements that are in line with the standards set out by Elections Alberta."
Rai is holding a community town hall on Saturday. It's billed as an open discussion on issues that hurt people's democratic rights.
"The problems with the nomination systems are cropping up everywhere in the northeast," said Rai.
"These are issues that are being discussed in living rooms, and we're hoping to bring that discussion out in the open so we can start talking about them and looking for a way forward, rather than brushing them under the carpet."
Inderpreet Gill, a nomination day scrutineer with Rai's team, complained to Alberta's election commissioner without success. Rai says the NDP hasn't taken the issue seriously and won't investigate the claims.
"This is a great opportunity for everyone who's concerned about our future, everyone who's concerned about our democracy, to come together. This is an issue that should concern all Albertans, and we're hoping everyone can come and give us suggestions and ideas," Rai said.
Rai says the event is aimed at northeast communities and anyone concerned about democracy at the local level.
"The nomination process is the first step in the democratic process and if, for some reason, it's not being taken care of or it's corrupt, we need to be looking into it more closely," said Rai.
Rai says she hopes to build a committee or group to come up with resolutions to try to improve the nomination process across parties.
Rai says education is also important, adding she believes some people involved in fraudulent voting were coerced and don't know what they're doing is wrong.
The event runs from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Westin Calgary Airport hotel in northeast Calgary.