'Disrespectful to the democratic process': Sarnia police investigate stolen election signs
Social Sharing
Sarnia police say they're probing several reports of election signs being stolen throughout the southwestern Ontario border city as the federal election inches closer.
The municipal force issued a warning to the public on Tuesday asking residents to respect all election materials regardless of someone's "political affiliation."
"Tampering with election signage is not only disrespectful to the democratic process but may also constitute one or more criminal or provincial offences," police said in an online statement.
According to local authorities, anyone found to be involved in the theft, damage or removal of an election sign could be charged with a handful of offences.
Theft under $5,000.
Mischief under $5,000.
Interfering with election materials (Canada Elections Act).
Trespassing (Trespass to Property Act).
Anyone who witnesses suspicious activity involving election signs is encouraged to contact police.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
7 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Newfoundland voters concerned after apparent voter mistakes void hundreds of ballots
ST. JOHN'S – Two voters in Newfoundland say they hope Elections Canada can learn from a dramatic judicial recount that revealed hundreds of people in their riding may have marked their ballots in the wrong spot. Jennifer Barnett says she didn't receive instructions about how to mark her ballot when she voted for Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe in an advance poll ahead of the April 28 federal election. The rural Newfoundland riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is home to many seniors and others who may have needed more instruction than she received to properly fill in a ballot, Barnett said. 'Being able to vote is such a privilege, and if your vote is spoiled because of a simple error, I think it's very sad,' the 43-year-old said in a recent interview. 'I think it's very important, going forward, that we take a page from this.' Elections Canada said it has several measures in place to ensure voters have the correct instructions for filling in their ballot, including visual instructions posted on the back of voting screens. 'As we do after each election, we will look back at what went well and where we could improve things so that we can adjust our efforts to better serve electors, including the ways we communicate about how to properly mark ballots,' spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email. A judicial recount in the eastern Newfoundland riding last month resulted in an 'unprecedented' 1,041 disputed ballots, according to a report last week from provincial Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan, who oversaw the process. On many of the disputed ballots — 'maybe as many as half,' Handrigan's report said — the voter had placed their mark in the rectangular boxes containing a candidate's name. In some of those so-called 'rectangle votes,' the elector had also made a mark in the circle to the right of the candidate's name. The Canada Elections Act is clear: any ballot 'that has not been marked in a circle at the right of the candidates' names' should be rejected. Accordingly, the judge rejected the 'rectangle votes,' his report said. In all, 819 ballots were rejected in the recount. Rowe was declared the winner, defeating Liberal Anthony Germain by 12 votes. The Liberal party said last week that it accepts the results. The average age in Terra Nova-The Peninsulas is 50, the highest among the seven ridings in the province — though not by much. In the ridings of Central Newfoundland and Long Range Mountains, the average is age 49, according to Elections Canada. There were fewer rejected ballots in both ridings — 492 and 452, respectively. Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University in St. John's, said anything Elections Canada can do to decrease the confusion around voting is good. 'Clearly, there were a lot of voters who wanted to have their voice heard in this election, if there were that many 'confused but clear' ballots,' Bittner said in an email. 'That speaks to a gap between voter understanding of what to do and Elections Canada processes.' 'Fortunately, Elections Canada takes voter turnout very seriously, and I am sure they have already made note of this issue and are working on tweaking their processes for next time,' she added. Liberal volunteer Sheilagh Crombie-Brown said she didn't receive instructions when she cast a ballot at an advance poll in Bonavista, a community in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding. She believes her 83-year-old husband would have mistakenly spoiled his ballot if she hadn't have been there to help him. The 62-year-old also hopes Elections Canada will try to figure out why so many ballots were cast incorrectly. The federal elections agency does provide instructions, she acknowledged, but if people can't read or understand them, they won't be of much use. Meanwhile, Barnett is pleased that Rowe won and she doesn't question the results of the recount. However, she hopes Elections Canada will take note of what happened and ensure it won't happen again. 'I think if they don't, they'd be doing an injustice to the whole system,' she said. 'Because when you see something of this magnitude happen, to not talk about it is just wrong.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
27-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
How a judge handled an ‘unprecedented' 1,041 disputed ballots in a tight N.L. recount
ST. JOHN'S – A new report explains how a judge dealt with an 'unprecedented' number of disputed ballots — 1,041 — during a federal election recount in a rural Newfoundland riding recently won by the Conservatives. Justice Garrett Handrigan's report, dated Monday, says 'maybe as many as half' of the disputed ballots in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding were marked in the rectangular box containing the candidates' name. His report says lawyers for Liberal candidate Anthony Germain argued Handrigan would be disenfranchising those voters by dismissing their ballots. However, lawyers for Conservative Jonathan Rowe said Handrigan must stick to the Canada Elections Act, which says any ballot not marked in the circle next to the name shall be rejected. Handrigan rejected the so-called 'rectangle ballots,' and a table accompanying his report indicates he ultimately dismissed more than 675 ballots. Elections Canada announced Friday that Rowe was declared the winner after the recount found he had defeated Germain by 12 votes. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Vancouver Sun
14-05-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Vote in Terrebonne riding is final despite uncounted mail-in ballot that would make it a tie, Elections Canada says
OTTAWA — Elections Canada says the result of a recount in the federal riding of Terrebonne is final, despite a misprint that led to one special ballot being returned to sender. Elections Canada says there was an error on the envelope used to mail a special ballot from Terrebonne, a Quebec riding the Liberals won by a single vote after a recount. Preliminary results indicated that the Liberals had won the riding, but the seat flipped temporarily to the Bloc Quebecois after the results were validated. After a recount that gave the seat back to the Liberals, however, CBC News reported that a Bloc voter saw her mail-in ballot returned to her. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The agency says an analysis confirmed that part of the return address on the envelope destined for a local Elections Canada office — the last three characters of the postal code — was incorrect. Despite the error and questions about the possibility of another recount or a byelection, Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna said 'the result of the recount is final.' 'The Canada Elections Act does not explicitly provide for the appeal of a judicial recount and Elections Canada is unaware of any appeals brought to a court following a recount,' said McKenna. Elections Canada said this is only case they know of in the recent election of an envelope containing a marked ballot being returned to a voter because of an incorrect address. McKenna said the returned vote was never part of the recount. 'Any vote that doesn't get to us on time to wherever it's meant to go, whether it's the local office or to our accounting facility in Ottawa, the law basically dictates that it can't be counted,' he said. 'So even if it's something that happens as a result of an error on our part, there's really no mechanism for that to be counted.' McKenna said the only thing that could lead to a change in the result is someone officially contesting it. 'Anyone can make an application to a judge to say that they want the results of the election to be reviewed,' he said. 'There's a possibility that that happens … as far as I'm aware, nobody's put forward such an application yet.' Liberal Tatiana Auguste was initially projected to win the riding by 35 votes after the April 28 election, but on May 1, following the required postelection validation process, Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, who was first elected in 2021, moved ahead by 44 votes. The win was returned to Auguste following the judicial recount, with Auguste receiving 23,352 votes and Sinclair-Desgagne receiving 23,351. A judicial recount is automatic when the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number of votes cast for any other candidate is less than 0.1 per cent of the valid votes cast. A validation process is done by the returning officer, who reviews the cumulative addition of votes in a riding from every poll, based on the counts determined at every polling station in the presence of party scrutineers and election officers. It does not recount the ballots, or review ballots that were deemed to be invalid. A judicial recount looks at all the ballots again, verifying the ones that were initially accepted and reconsidering ballots that were rejected. It takes place in the presence of a judge from a Superior Court in the affected province or territory. Sinclair-Desgagne wrote on Facebook Monday that she owed it to herself to 'evaluate all the options before us.' The final result brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Bloc seat count fell to 22. Other judicial recounts are ongoing in the ridings of Windsor_Tecumseh_Lakeshore, Milton East_Halton Hills South and Terra Nova_The Peninsulas. — With additional reporting from Cassidy McMackon and Morgan Lowrie Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
