Grits alert voters to potential for electoral fraud in coming byelections

OTTAWA – Voters in four impending federal byelections are being warned to be on the lookout for possible scams aimed at dissuading them from casting ballots.

Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale says the Harper government’s failure to deal with the kind of electoral fraud that plagued the 2011 election means the same tactics could be used again in the byelections.

Goodale blames Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives for the thousands of automated and live calls received by non-Tory voters in Guelph, Ont. and elsewhere, directing them to wrong or non-existent polling stations.

A Federal Court judge has concluded that the Conservative party’s massive central database was the most likely source of information used to make the calls.

Charges have so far been laid against a lone staffer from the Guelph Conservative campaign but Elections Canada is continuing to investigate.

Harper has yet to name a date for byelections to fill four vacancies: Toronto Centre, the Montreal riding of Bourassa, and the Manitoba ridings of Provencher and Brandon-Souris.