Quebec provincial rejected ballots - do you smell a fish?

A whole lot of people have gone to the polls in provincial elections without getting their vote counted.

Totals are not as bad as they once were, but one percent of all ballots were rejected in the most recent Quebec provincial election of 2007.

Why? We're not sure. A provincial bureaucrat in charge of such questions told Coolopolis there are no records as to what caused these ballots to be rejected.

Federally, francophones spoil ballots far more often than anglos, but nobody knows why. A recent Ottawa Citizen study pointed out that on the federal level 47 of the 50 ridings with the highest proportion of spoiled ballots were in Quebec.


In some cases would-be voters surely spoiled their ballots in protest, in other cases there were perhaps two names ticked off, or perhaps there were some ballots rejected for no real justification - our own Florida-style election scandal.

It used to be worse. In 2003 the percentage of rejected ballots from the provincial election was 1.25%. In 1998: 1.13%. Prior to that, the numbers were higher: 1994: 1.96%, 1989: 2.63%, 1985: 1.52% of ballots cast were deemed ineligible.

So ballot rejection has diminished sharply since the 1995 provincial election on separation, which ended up in squabbles and lawsuits concerning 85,000 rejected votes, many of which were left uncounted without reasonable justification. Elections Director Pierre F. Cote's report charged 31 PQ-appointed voting officials with electoral fraud.

The current ballot style, top left (Vote for me! - Chimples) is based on the Belgian model and has been since 1998. It seems idiot proof, but thousands of ballots still don't get scored.

Prior to the '95 referendum, many more ballots were simply tossed out.

Let's take 1989, where the practice of tossing out votes was far more widespread. Perhaps the highest total of rejected votes ever registered was in Bertrand where Francois Beaulne of the PQ beat Liberal Estelle Lessard by 2,819 votes in an election which saw a staggering 4.64 percent of all votes rejected (1,826).In Berthier Liberal Albert Houde beat Jules Samson, 3.9 percent of all ballots were rejected. That same year In Acadie the Liberal Yvan Bordeleau won easily but 3.5% of votes were rejected and the same percentage of rejected ballots was registered in Charlevoix.




In some cases the total of rejected votes could have seen a seat go the other way. Here are some examples.

1989.

1-In Bourget Huguette Boucher-Bacon of the Liberals beat Gilles Baril by 159 votes, but 887 votes were discounted, an impressive 3.28 percent of all ballots were simply tossed out.

2-In Two Mountains Liberal Jean-Guy Bergeron beat Helen Robert of the PQ by 515 votes, but 1,061 ballots - 3.05 percent of the total - were rejected.

3-In Bellechasse Liberal Louise Begin beat Claude Lachance by 191 votes, but 602 votes were not counted.

4-In La Praire PQ Denis Lazure won by 790 votes over Yvon Pommainville but 867 ballots were rejected.

5-In Rosemont Liberal Guy Rivard, Guy beat Sylvain Simard by 133 votes while 862 votes went uncounted.
6-Vachon, Liberal Christiane Pelchat won over David Payne by 114 votes, as 957 votes were tossed away.
7-In Rouyn-Noranda Temiscaminque the PQ Remy Trudel beat Gilles Baril of the Liberals by 66 votes while a staggering 1,418 ballots (4.91%) were tossed out.

Only Rosemont and Rouyn went to recounts. The second-place candidates in Bourget and Vachon asked for recounts but then desisted. The law - not sure if it applied back then - is that recount fees have to be paid by the loser, a total decided by a judge. In cases of under 1,000 vote spreads there is no charge.

So in 1989 most of the close votes with lots of rejected ballots went the Liberal way.

That changed in 1994 when the PQ did a lot better in those suspicious totals.

1994:
1-In Chambly the PQ's Louise Beaudoin, beat Lucienne Robillard by 407 votes, while 1,130 ballots were ruled inacceptable.

2-In Three Rivers PQ candidate Guy Julien beat Liberal Paul Philibert by 609 votes while 667 ballots (2.24%) were cast into the garbage pail.

3-In Lotbinière Jean-Guy Paré of the PQ won by 283 votes while 558 ballots were tossed out.

4-In Cremazie Jean Campeau won with a 429 vote majority over his PQ rival while 568 ballots were rejected.

5-The Liberals beat a few of their own Margaret F. Delisle won by just 25 votes in Jean Talon over Diane Lavallee, in a seat where 551 ballots (1.94% of all ballots cast) were rejected.

6-And Robert Therien of the Liberals won in Bertrand by 146 votes while 478 votes were rejected.

7-Paul Eugene Quirion won in Beauce South by 164, as 635 ballots (2.14% of all votes cast) were tossed in the bin.

8-And Normand Poulin won by 61 votes in Beauce North, as 501 votes were rejected (2.09% of the total).
9-David Cliche of the PQ beat Benoit Fradet, Liberal by 128 votes, while 683 votes were tossed out.

(Trivia: Saint Jean was a tie and required a re-vote. In the rematch, the PQ's Roger Paquin beat Liberal Michel Charbonneau by 532 votes, with 487 being tossed out).

Of those worrisome results, only Beauce North and Jean Talon went through official recounts.

1998:

1-Anjou: Jean-Sebastien Lamoureux, Liberals won by 143 over Pierre Bélanger, P.Q. as 384 ballots were rejected. (1.39%)

2- Argenteuil David Whissell, Liberal beat Denise Beaudoin by 148 as 427 votes were tossed (1.08%).

3-In Bonaventure Liberal Nathalie Normandeau,won by 160 over Marcel Landry as 235 votes were rejected. (1.03%)

4-In Charlesbourg, the PQ candidate Jean Rochon, Jean prevailed with a 33 vote majority over Liberal Denis Roy as 564 votes were chucked out (1.43%)

5-In Jean-Talon Margaret Delisle, of the Liberals won by 156 over Daniel-Mercier Gouin of the P.Q. amid 288 rejecetd ballots (1.01%)

6-In Kamouraska-Témiscouata Liberal Claude Béchard won by 110 over Denis Simard of the PQ as the rejected ballot bin showed 304 (1.16%)

7-In Shefford Liberal Bernard Brodeur won by 73 over René Marois of the PQ as 659 votes went uncounted 1.56%)




2003

1-In Dubuc Jacques Côté of the PQ won by 44 votes over Johnny Simard, while 280 votes were tossed out (1.1% of the total).

2- In Groulx Pierre Descoteaux of the Liberals beat Robert Kieffer of the PQ by just 303 votes while 465 votes (1.32% of all ballots) were rejected.

3-In Matane Liberal Nancy Charest won by 33 while 155 ballots were rejected.

4-In Roberval Karl Blackburn of the Liberals beat Rejean Lalancette of the PQ by 244 votes as 313 votes were tossed out (1.02%)

5-In Vachon the PQ's Camil Bouchard was elected with a 219 vote majority over Brigitte Mercier, as 490 ballots were tossed out.


2007:

1-In Crémazie Lisette Lapointe, of the PQ won by 170 over Michele Lamquin-Ethier of the provincial Liberals as 349 (1%) ballots were rejected.

2-In Johnson Eric Charbonneau of the ADQ won by 180 over the PQ Claude Boucher as 366 votes (1.13%) were rejected).

3-In Mégantic-Compton Johanne Gonthier of the Liberals won by 201 over the ADQ as 240 were rejected.

4-In Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue Johanne Morasse of the PQ won by 129 over Daniel Bernard of the Liberals in an election which saw 361 votse tossed out (1.24%)

5-In Vachon Carmil Bouchard of the PQ won by 227 as 429 ballots were rejected.


In Quebec elections, a variety of parties are meant to have people at the polls helping make sure that their team doesn't get shafted, but as we saw in the provincial referendum, that doesn't always work out.

Voters are told little about the rejected ballots and the cause of their rejection remains vague.

Surely some spoil their ballots in protest. But perhaps some legitimate votes are tossed away by those who don't like where the X is marked. Thankfully not as many votes are tossed away as were 20 years ago.