Barinder Rasode’s campaign manager is “building a case” to have Surrey City Clerk Jane Sullivan removed as the city’s chief elections officer.
The move came after a misprint on a ballot that left two of Rasode’s candidates without the One Surrey party affiliation beside their name during advanced voting on Saturday.
One Surrey campaign manager Brad Zubyk said he contacted Sullivan at about 9 a.m. and he says the polls remained open for another couple of hours.
“We’re building a case with our legal team,” Zubyk said Tuesday. “To be honest, I’ve never seen such a s–t show in my life.”
Sullivan sent out a notice on Monday night indicating all procedures after the error were correct.
“Independent legal counsel has confirmed that Surrey Election Officials took appropriate steps to ensure the integrity of the voting process,” Sullivan said in a release. “The Chief Election Officer also confirms that all the ballot boxes containing all ballots cast prior to the temporary 55 minute suspension of voting on Nov. 1, 2014 were segregated and secured. “
Just under 700 of the errant ballots were cast, and a few more than 100 were sent out by mail-out, of which a small percentage are returned as votes.
Zubyk says he has nothing against Sullivan, but suggests she’s over her head handling this election.
This is Sullivan’s fifth time as chief elections officer in Surrey and she has also run civic elections in Alberta.
However, Zubyk said he’s travelled the world observing other elections and says he’s never seen anything like this occur.
“Once again, Surrey is in the media for all the wrong reasons,” Zubyk said.
He was expected to file his case with the province Tuesday.
