Mr. Speaker, in response to part (a), in the electoral district, or ED, of Beauséjour, election workers located a total of two ballot booklets, each containing a single misprinted ballot. The misprinted ballots were found in advance polls 607 and 608, and both contained candidates for the neighboring ED of Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, with one candidate from that ED listed twice. Both EDs used the same printing company. One misprinted ballot was discovered during the count in advance poll 608 and was rejected.
In the ED of Vaughan—Woodbridge, three ballot booklets were located, containing a combined total of 33 misprinted ballots. The central poll supervisor from advance poll 600 reported that while the back of the ballots stated the correct ED, the front listed candidates in the ED of Mississauga—Lakeshore. Six misprinted ballots were discovered during the count in advance poll 600 and each was rejected.
In response to part (b), the ballot printer for Beauséjour was Imprimerie A. Dupuis Printing. In Beauséjour, the ballots were printed as part of a larger series of arrangements that also included other documents, such as the lists of electors.
The total value of the arrangements was $13,783.42 before tax, and $15,850.93 including tax. The amount was paid in full. This adhered to the rate in Elections Canada’s directive on certain field acquired goods and services in conduct of electoral events. Please note that in processing parliamentary returns, the government applies the principles set out in the Access to Information Act, and certain information has been withheld on the grounds that the information constitutes third party information.
The printer with whom Elections Canada contracted for the printing of the ballots in Vaughan—Woodbridge was Sherwood Design and Print. However, Sherwood Design and Print arranges for this production of the ballots to be done at a facility operated by Sherwood Printers, a separate company.
The value of the contract for the printing of ballots for Vaughan—Woodbridge was $9,020.59 before tax, and $10,193.27, including tax. The amount was paid in full. This adhered to the rate in Elections Canada’s directive on certain field acquired goods and services in conduct of electoral events. Please note that in processing parliamentary returns, the government applies the principles set out in the Access to Information Act, and certain information has been withheld on the grounds that the information constitutes third party information.
A refund was not requested or received.
In response to part (c), the deputy returning officer guidebook contains instructions for election officers to prepare the night before voting. These include inspecting each ballot to make sure it shows every candidate’s name and is not stained or badly printed. If a ballot does not pass inspection, election officers are instructed to fold its corners, leave it in the booklet and not use it when serving electors, and place it in the “spoiled ballots” envelope.
Elections officers are not normally instructed to verify the list of candidates on the ballots again at the polls, since they were inspected the night before the polls. However, following the discovery of misprinted ballots, election officers in these two EDs were instructed to perform additional verifications of their ballots.
In both EDs, Elections Canada headquarters instructed the returning officer, or RO, to verify all remaining, unused, ballots in the ED to ensure there were no other misprinted ballots.
The field liaison officer responsible for Beauséjour and Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe also contacted the assistant RO and interim RO for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe and instructed them to ask election officials to check all remaining ballots for misprints.
In addition, Elections Canada headquarters instructed eight others ROs, whose EDs used the same printing facility as the RO in Vaughan—Woodbridge, to conduct a complete sweep of all ballots.
