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Irish Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Seanad election returning officer says he had no reason to doubt accuracy of count result
A returning officer who refused a former Seanad election candidate's request for a full recount during the recent vote has told the High Court he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the count. Martin Groves, the recently retired clerk of the Seanad, said the narrow margin of votes separating Cllr Angela Feeney and the final candidate elected to the Agricultural Panel was not grounds in and of itself to direct a full recount of votes. Ms Feeney, a Labour Party councillor in Kildare, was eliminated on the 23rd count by a margin of 0.116, or one-ninth, of a ballot, missing out on the final seat to Fine Gael's Maria Byrne in January's election. Each valid Seanad ballot paper is deemed to have a value of 1,000 votes. The total valid poll for the 11-seat Agricultural Panel was 95,667 votes. READ MORE Ms Feeney, a member of Labour's central council and former head of Technological University Dublin's school of languages, law and social sciences, has brought a High Court petition challenging the conduct of vote counting for the panel. She claims there should have been a full recount of the ballots , rather than simply a repeat of the 23rd count. She wants the election result overturned and a recount ordered. Giving evidence at the hearing of the action, Mr Groves said legislation allows returning officers conducting Seanad election counts discretion to direct full recounts in circumstances where they are not satisfied with the accuracy of the count. Mr Groves said his discretion to direct a full recount of votes is restrained by those circumstances. He said a narrow margin separating candidates was not a reason in and of itself to order a full recount. During the count, after considering Ms Feeney's request for a full recount, Mr Groves said he concluded he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the count, noting that no errors were uncovered following two partial recounts. [ Boy (4) died of severe brain injury after choking on cocktail sausage, inquest hears Opens in new window ] He said there were many potential circumstances where he would begin to doubt the accuracy of a count. On Thursday, Eoin O'Malley, a political scientist and professor at Dublin City University, told the court he was 'surprised' that Ms Feeney was not granted a recount. Mr O'Malley, an expert witness called by the Feeney side, said he did not have expertise or experience with Seanad election counts, but had experience of observing general election counts. He agreed with Conor Power SC, for Ms Feeney, that recounts in election counts with tight margins can lead to greater satisfaction with the outcome. Mr O'Malley said he believed part of the reason for the granting of recounts in those circumstances is to satisfy all candidates that the count has been conducted fairly and properly. [ Man operating at 'highest possible level' of drug-dealing network jailed for 15 years Opens in new window ] In this case, he said it would have been better for democracy and the electoral process had a recount been granted. He noted it would have been quicker and cheaper than pursuing the issue through the courts. He said he believed that granting Ms Feeney the recount could have satisfied the candidate that there were no errors in the count. The trial, before Mr Justice Míchéal O'Higgins, continues.
BreakingNews.ie
5 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Seanad count challenge: Returning officer had no reason to doubt accuracy of vote, court told
A returning officer who refused a former Seanad candidate's request for a full recount of the vote during the recent election has told the High Court he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the count. Martin Groves, the recently retired clerk of the Seanad, said a narrow margin of votes separating Cllr Angela Feeney and the final successful candidate in the agricultural panel was not grounds in and of itself to direct a full recount of votes. Advertisement Cllr Feeney, a Labour Party councillor in Kildare, was eliminated on the 23rd count by a margin of .116, or one-ninth, of a ballot, missing out on the final seat to Fine Gael's Maria Byrne in January's election. Each valid Seanad ballot paper is deemed to have a value of 1,000 votes. The total valid poll for the 11-seat agricultural panel was 95,667 votes. Cllr Feeney, a member of the Labour Party's central council and former head of Technological University Dublin's school of languages, law and social sciences, has brought a High Court petition challenging the conduct of vote counting for the agricultural panel. Cllr Feeney's case claims there should have been a full recount of the ballots, rather than simply a repeat of the 23rd count. Cllr Feeney wants the election result overturned and a recount ordered. Advertisement Giving evidence at the hearing of Cllr Feeney's action on Wednesday, Mr Groves said legislation allows returning officers conducting Seanad election counts discretion to direct full recounts in circumstances where they are not satisfied with the accuracy of the count. Mr Groves said his discretion to direct a full recount of votes is restrained by those circumstances. He said a narrow margin separating candidates was not a reason in and of itself to order a full recount. During the count, after considering Cllr Feeney's request for a full recount, Mr Groves said he concluded he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the count, noting that no errors were uncovered following two partial recounts. Advertisement He said there were lots of potential circumstances where he would begin to doubt the accuracy of the count. On Thursday, Dr Eoin O'Malley, a political scientist and professor at Dublin City University, told the court he was 'surprised' Cllr Feeney was not granted a recount. Dr O'Malley, an expert witness called by Cllr Feeney's side, stipulated that he did not have expertise or experience with Seanad counts, but had experience of observing Dáil election counts. He agreed with Conor Power SC, for Cllr Feeney, that recounts in election counts with tight margins can lead to greater satisfaction with the outcome of the election. Advertisement Dr O'Malley said he believed part of the reason for the granting of recounts in those circumstances is to satisfy all candidates that the count has been conducted fairly and properly. In the case of Cllr Feeney, Dr O'Malley said it would have been better for democracy and the electoral process had a recount been granted, and noted it would have been quicker and cheaper than pursuing the issue through the courts. He said he believed that granting Cllr Feeney the recount could have satisfied the candidate that there were no errors in the count. The trial, before Mr Justice Míchéal O'Higgins, continues.
ABC News
7 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian petitions High Court over 150 ballots
The defeated Liberal candidate for the federal electorate of Bradfield has raised doubts about more than 150 ballots, in a petition asking the High Court to overturn the result. The first full distribution of preferences in the seat on Sydney's north shore had Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian ahead by eight votes, but a recount saw independent Nicolette Boele declared the winner by 26 votes. After almost six weeks, Ms Kapterian announced on Monday she would take the result to the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns. "We are requesting a targeted final examination of a small number of 'line ball' ballots," Ms Kapterian said in a statement posted to social media. She has now lodged a petition, asking the court to overturn the result and declare her the winner. The petition claims the electoral officer wrongly rejected at least 56 ballots which favoured Ms Kapterian. This includes 22 ballots where the officer concluded certain numbers were not distinguishable from other numbers, and 34 ballots where numbers were deemed illegible. Ms Kapterian argues, taking the ballot papers as a whole, it was clear "that the voter intended to indicate a first preference for 1 candidate and an order of preference for all remaining candidates". Ms Kapterian has further identified at least 93 ballots favouring Ms Boele which she claims were wrongly admitted, despite similar issues. She argues a further two ballots favouring Ms Boele were admitted despite "having upon it a mark or writing … by which the voter could be identified." In her social media post, Ms Kapterian said in launching a legal challenge, she was not questioning the integrity of the electoral system. "This process has only served to reaffirm my faith in Australia's democratic institution," she said. The new parliament is due to sit for the first time next week, and Ms Boele has said she is preparing to deliver her first speech the week after. In her own social media statement, she said she would seek donations to fund her legal costs. "We can't rely on volunteers in the High Court, we need good lawyers and that is expensive," Ms Boele said. It is not yet known when the Court of Disputed Returns might sit to hear the case.
Irish Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Former Seanad candidate wants full recount of agricultural panel vote, court hears
A former Seanad election candidate wants a full recount of the recent agricultural panel vote in the interest of fairness and transparency, the High Court has heard. Cllr Angela Feeney, a member of the Labour Party's central council and former head of Technological University Dublin's school of languages, law and social sciences, has brought a High Court petition challenging the conduct of vote counting for the agricultural panel. Cllr Feeney, a councillor in Kildare, wants January's election result overturned and a recount ordered. She was eliminated on the 23rd count by a margin of .116, or one-ninth, of a ballot, missing out on the final seat to Fine Gael's Maria Byrne. READ MORE Each valid Seanad ballot paper is deemed to have a value of 1,000 votes. The total valid poll for the 11-seat agricultural panel was 95,667 votes. Cllr Feeney's case claims there should have been a full recount of the ballots, rather than simply a repeat of the 23rd count. She says her request for a full recount was denied by the returning officer. On Tuesday, giving evidence at the hearing into her action, Cllr Feeney said she was asking the court to grant the recount in the interest of fairness and transparency. She added that the 'bigger issue' in the case is transparency and public faith in the electoral system. Cllr Feeney said she was 'surprised' when counting at the count centre began at such a distance that candidates and their teams had no proper sight of the process. Counting continued at a distance of about 7ft away and did not lend itself to 'proper oversight' of the process, as one might expect at local or Dáil election count centres, she said. Cross-examined by Catherine Donnelly, senior counsel for the returning officer, Cllr Feeney agreed other candidates vying for a seat on the agricultural panel were eliminated by similarly slim margins, less than the value of one ballot paper. Cllr Feeney said because she was last to be eliminated, she had the potential to be elected. None of the other candidates missed out by virtue of a margin as fine as hers, she said. Cllr Feeney agreed that her side had not identified any particular error in the count process. She said she believed the error was not allowing the full recount and the lack of transparency. Ms Donnelly put to Cllr Feeney that the count was visible to candidates. The councillor said the visibility was not adequate. Asked why she did not raise with the returning officer concerns around transparency when she first arrived at the count centre, Cllr Feeney said it did not seem she and her team had an opportunity to raise such concerns. Conor Power, senior barrister for Ms Feeney, said the returning officer had discretion in granting a full recount but a number of factors must be considered in exercising that discretion. In Cllr Feeney's case, those factors included the narrow margin of difference between her and the next candidate, the very small margin of difference on a number of previous counts and the possibility of human error during the count, Mr Power said. The case continues before Mr Justice Mícheál O'Higgins.
News.com.au
14-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Liberal Party to reportedly launch court challenge to the result in seat of Bradfield
The Liberal Party will launch a court challenge after losing the blue-ribbon seat of Bradfield at the May election to community independent Nicolette Boele. Ms Boele defeated the Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes in a recount that wasn't completed till a month after the May 3 election. On Monday, the Guardian reported the Liberal Party would launch the court challenge, asking a judge to recount some of the ballots. At the end of the recount conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission, Ms Boele had 50.01 per cent of the total vote, ahead of Ms Kapterian's 49.99 per cent. The news comes just a week before parliament sits for the first time since the election, with Ms Boele expected to take her seat on the cross benches.
