As I stated numerous times during my campaign for council, I was running because I was unhappy with the direction the city has been going in, the lack of transparency, and the complete disregard for the concerns of the residents.
I lost by about 1,200 votes and do not expect to be victorious if a recount ever occurs. However, as a concerned resident, I will continue to raise issues I believe are important to the community.
I am concerned that when we transitioned from a manual counting of the votes to elections with voting machines, some very important democratic safeguards were lost. Historically, a candidate or their scrutineer could examine a vote to ensure it was a valid ballot, but this was lost because the voting machines made the determination.
Historically, a candidate or his scrutineer could check the mathematical computation of the total votes, but this was lost because the tabulation of votes occurred in the bowels of the voting machines.
Historically, paper ballots were secured in locked ballot boxes and transported to the central counting station so security and chain of custody could be verified, but in this last election we had votes recorded on thumb drives being transported to the central counting station in unmarked paper envelopes with no satisfactory procedure to ensure the chain of custody was secure.
The result was that no candidate, poll worker, or citizen of St. Albert can say with any reasonable certainty that only valid ballots were counted, ballots were correctly allocated to the candidates, the chain of custody for the transported thumb drives was solid, and that the final tabulation was correct.
Many residents have contacted me about this election. As a result, I requested a recount to alleviate their concerns. The request was rejected by the city. For the sake of full transparency, the city should be prepared to do a full manual recount to reassure the electorate of the results.
In addition, the City of St. Albert must completely revise its procedures for conducting elections so citizens can be fully satisfied of the legitimacy of the whole process.
As the former Secretary of State of New Jersey and former chairman of the Federal Election Assistance said, “Voting is the foundational act that breathes life into the principle of the consent of the governed.”
Ross Guffei, St. Albert
