Sy Murseli, a regular candidate in Osoyoos municipal elections, doesn’t trust vote-counting machines and he questions the impartiality of town staff to serve as electoral officers. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Dear Editor:
This is an open letter to Town of Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff and members of town council.
This letter is written in relation to municipal elections in October 2018.
I did request Mayor McKortoff and council to appoint an independent chief election officer to be in charge of the town elections and perhaps a referendum for a new town hall.
As well, in January 2018, I did ask for a manual recount of the ballots because electronic voting machines, particularly the ballot counting with machines and the procedures where scrutineers’ and candidates’ rights are deprived by not seeing and verifying ballots marked – the real and true outcome of the election results for council or referendum, not only in my Town of Osoyoos, but in 75 communities where electronic voting took place.
My request for a manual recount was turned down.
The Town of Osoyoos mayor and council continually justify the use of these machines on the basis that reverting back to manual recount of ballots is costly and time consuming.
As for the cost, voting is a very personal thing for everybody and the residents are prepared to pay a few thousand dollars to allow them the right to have their votes counted in the manner that they intended.
Sy Murseli
Osoyoos, B.C.
Editor’s note: Sy Murseli identifies himself as a would-be candidate in the October 2018 Osoyoos municipal election. He has run unsuccessfully in seven previous municipal elections and he considers himself to be the “council watchdog.”
