LILLEY: Election workers break the rules, favour Chow, at advance polls

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Election workers at one Toronto advance poll appear to have been putting their thumbs on the scale for Olivia Chow, repeating a warning that mirrors her own campaign messaging. Two voters who cast ballots over the weekend at Rosedale United Church were informed that there were candidates with similar names and that they should be sure whom they were voting for.

In addition to Olivia Chow, there is a second candidate on the ballot named Braeden Chow. That could lead to ballot confusion, but it’s not the place of election workers handing out ballots to make comments to voters.

“Pay special attention when voting as some names are similar,” one advance-poll voter said they were told.

Another voter at the same location, but checked in by a different election worker, was given a different but similar message.

“Be careful because there are a number of candidates with the same name and that I should check that I make sure that I pick the right one,” the voter said.

A polling-place supervisor was challenged on the practice but defended it, according to an audio recording provided to the Toronto Sun.

“Is it standard when you go to vote for them to explain that there could be two candidates that have the same name?” the voter asked.

“It is in the case where we have two candidates that have such a similar name that are on the ballot,” said the polling-place supervisor. “That is the messaging that we have.”

The supervisor said they would confirm the practice with Election Central.

Official policy says otherwise

In an email to the Sun, city officials confirmed that this is not official practice and should not happen.

“Ballot officers are trained to conduct voting in a neutral and impartial manner. They are not instructed to provide information about candidates with similar surnames,” the email stated.

And yet it happened, and it followed the same messaging that Mayor Olivia Chow has been using to warn voters that they need to make sure they vote for her and not Braeden Chow.

If it happened to two voters who received ballots from separate election workers then there is a real question about how often it happened over six days of advance voting.

The practice, however widespread, favours Olivia Chow.

City hall’s helping hand

It’s bad enough that Chow has used city resources to aid her campaign; she doesn’t need election workers giving her an unfair advantage.

Earlier this year, Chow had the city issue a budget document loaded with photos of the mayor and wrapped in her campaign branding, including her signature purple as the dominant colour. The city has official colours and fonts that it uses for publications, but this budget document ignored that and looked more like a campaign document than a city document.

Chow then spent $142,000 marketing the budget, and her campaign-like document, up from the $42,000 the city spent marketing the budget the previous year.

This is just one example of Chow using city resources to benefit her re-election.

Voters deserve a fair fight

City of Toronto residents have a serious choice to make on Oct. 26, and it should be a fair choice. When they head to the polls, Torontonians should be informed about the issues and ready to cast a ballot, but that process should not face undue influence in favour of the mayor.

I’ve looked at Mayor Chow’s record and found it wanting. I don’t support a city in decline, a city where statistics show crime is rising and our leaders claim the opposite, where filth and open-air drug use on public transit are normalized.

When I go to cast my vote for Brad Bradford, and against Olivia Chow, I don’t expect election workers to have any comment or opinion as they hand over the ballot.

Elections are supposed to be decided by voters, not nudges from the people handing out the ballots.

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