City of Charlottetown's election plan 'open to manipulation,' says P.E.I.'s chief electoral officer

P.E.I.'s chief electoral officer Tim Garrity has advised Charlottetown City Council his office will not administer the city's election this November unless council changes its current election bylaw.

In a letter to council dated Monday, June 27, obtained by CBC News, Garrity said the city's plan to hold mobile polls at specific seniors' apartment buildings is not in compliance with the Municipal Government Act and would open the city's election "to manipulation by those who have a vested interest in the outcome," that is, members of council.

"Allowing a polling location outside of the regulations could allow one to be located in an area that is known to be sympathetic to a particular candidate," Garrity wrote in the letter. The locations "should not be dictated by council members," he said.

Elections P.E.I. is — or was — set to administer elections this fall in P.E.I.'s five largest municipalities. Smaller municipalities administer their own elections.

In preparation, Garrity sent letters to those five municipalities asking for changes in their bylaws to bring them in line with provincial law.

In each case Garrity has cited the location of mobile polls, which, according to regulations under the Municipal Government Act, are to be used "as an alternative means of voting for an elector who is a resident or patient of a health-care facility and is physically incapable of attending at the polling station where the elector is entitled to vote."

The regulations define "health-care facility" to mean "a hospital, community-care facility or nursing home."

Charlottetown's election bylaw includes addresses for 30 mobile polling stations across nine of the city's 10 wards. Some of those are apartment buildings or seniors' housing complexes — not health-care facilities.

In a statement sent to CBC Wednesday, attributed to interim CAO Donna Waddell, the city said it's "committed to working with Elections P.E.I. to administer and deliver the city's fall municipal election."

This position is incompatible with the Election P.E.I mandate and would effectively politicize a large portion of the electoral process.​​​​​​— Tim Garrity, P.E.I. chief electoral officer

The statement said council will be reviewing the city's current elections bylaw and the changes proposed by Elections P.E.I. at its next regular meeting July 11.

"Most importantly, the City of Charlottetown wants to ensure that voting is as easy and accessible to as many people as possible and in particular seniors."

'Interference from councillors'

Appearing before Charlottetown's Strategic Priorities & Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee on June 23, Garrity told committee members that the other four municipalities were going ahead with the requested changes to their bylaws, with Charlottetown the only holdout.

Mayor Philip Brown argued the city's plan doesn't run afoul of the MGA but rather is "stronger than the Act" because the city wants to include more mobile polling stations.

"I'm a firm believer that access to polls, and what we've had up to this point is stronger than the legislation," he said at the meeting. "Accessibility is very important to our seniors … we need to make sure these polls are in place."

In the letter sent days later, Garrity wrote he left that meeting "with deep concern regarding the councillors understanding of the MGA, the associated regulations and the principle of impartial elections."

He also wrote that comments from Brown and councillor Mitchell Tweel questioning the administration of previous elections and the confidentiality of mail-in ballots "expressed a level of disrespect towards me as a witness and toward the office I lead."

Garrity wrote that, after taking time to reflect on the meeting, he concluded Elections P.E.I. will not administer the city's election "if the City of Charlottetown decides to proceed on its current course and work outside of the MGA election regulations.

"This position is incompatible with the Election P.E.I mandate and would effectively politicize a large portion of the electoral process."

If Elections P.E.I. does administer the city's election, Garrity said he would insist there be "no further resistance or interference from councillors."

P.E.I.'s next slate of municipal elections is scheduled for Nov. 7, 2022.