Essex mayoral candidate alleges proxy votes were 'corrupted' in election

Essex town councillor and mayoral candidate Ron Rogers is alleging proxy votes were "corrupted" in the municipal election.

His voice is one of several concerned about the proxy vote process in the Oct. 22 election.

OPP are investigating allegations of electoral fraud after the town said it received two official complaints of proxy ballots being signed without the consent of the electors.

Furthermore, CBC News obtained and examined 94 proxies filed for this election in Essex, 85 of which are located in Wards 3 and 4 in the Harrow area. Out of those 94 proxies, 31 of the papers were incorrectly filled out, but the town clerk still signed off on them.

"On election day, it became very clear that proxies were corrupted," Rogers said.

It's not the number of proxy votes. It's the intent of the deception, and the corrupt use of them.- Ron Rogers

Rogers said that he believes that one individual — who he would not name — was "mining for proxy votes" during the election. He added that there may have been multiple people involved.​

'Pursued, gathered and used'

"I can't say definitively that the race would have been one way or the other differently if there were no proxy votes," he said. 

The proxy votes themselves were not the issue, he explained.

"It's not the number of proxy votes. It's the intent of the deception, and the corrupt use of them," he said, adding that he's confident that this was not done by   mistake. 

"It was definitely not an error. They were pursued, gathered, and used, and it's unfortunate," he said.

'Our community is hurt'

Days after the municipal election, Ward 4 Coun. Sherry Bondy said she heard people allege that their elderly parents couldn't vote because the town said they had already voted by proxy — even though that was not the case.

"Our community is hurt," she said. 

"The Harrow-Colchester area is hurt because on Oct. 22, people went to go vote and they couldn't vote."

At Monday's council meeting, Bondy put forward a notice of motion that council ask the administration to investigate the proxy issue and to make the process safe and secure moving forward.

"Let's see what we can do better to make sure that people's votes are protected within using the proxy system in the next municipal election," she said. 

"Right now, anybody can get blank proxy forms and hand them out almost like Chiclets. People are signing and they don't know who they're signing for, who they're appointing to vote. And there's a lot of loopholes in our system that I really think need to be closed."

'Nothing wrong,' mayor says

Mayor Ron McDermott, on the other hand, said the whole situation has been blown out of proportion.

"I would bet — if I was a betting man — that our administration did absolutely nothing wrong during the election campaign."

Rogers is looking forward to the results of the investigation.

"I hope that there's enough evidence to make the party or parties that are responsible for the fraudulent use of the proxies to be held accountable."

The Town of Essex has said it will not be providing comment since it is an ongoing police investigation.