Fermanagh & South Tyrone

[ajs41ajs]

Any developments with the election petition here??

Good question.

[Do Gooder]

The pre-hearing review has commenced with claim and counter claim already flying around:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11216474

Presumably these six 'disputed' votes in question were allowed because the intention was clear, but that there were (how to put this) 'non-standard' marks on them.  The returning Officer presumably thought that it was obvious who the votes were for, allocated them, and thought no more about it.  This would explain why they votes have not been isolated from the other 47,000 before the review.

Not wishing to disparage either side, I wonder what experience of election counts and examining ballot papers these witnesses have?

[Pimpernal]

one of the 'winesses' is the unionist candidate's wife... she saw '2' of the disputed votes... another witness saw 4.

surely any disputed votes should have been isolated and considered openly at the count?

Surely if this petition is to go anywhere all 47000 votes now need to be rexamined?

at some considerable public expense... for which I am sure the voters will have much sympathy for Rodney should it be found he did not win after all...

[boogieeck]

Rodney could prove that he had won by 200 clear votes and that his opponent was ineligible by being a cabbage from a non eu country and approx 50% of the electorate would still feel that he should not have won.

Then again, Rodney could turn out to BE a cabbage from a non EU country.........and approx 50% of the electorate would still feel that he should have won.

[Do Gooder]

surely any disputed votes should have been isolated and considered openly at the count?

Well yes, but we don't know that they weren't considered openly at the count and then allocated because the voting intention was clear.  In this case there would be no need to isolate them.

Surely if this petition is to go anywhere all 47000 votes now need to be rexamined?

And this, because of the huge expense, is exactly what the judge will be trying to avoid...

[boogieeck]

And this, because of the huge expense, is exactly what the judge will be trying to avoid...

the expense cannot be that huge. We do it 650 times every General election

[Tricky]

What surprises me is the Judge saying that these votes should have been found over the summer.

It seems to me that this would have required the RO to re-examine votes without him having a statutory basis to do so and without the benefit of a court order.  How does the Judge think the RO would be able to do that?