Election petitions

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Hearing tomorrow in the Oxfordshire case:

Mr Justice Soole and Mrs Justice May
Not before 10:30am
Court 12

M371/21 Mark David Cherry v Jayne Clair Strangwood and Yvonne Rees
Election Petitions
In the matter of the representation of the people act 1983 and in the matter of a Local Government election in the County of Oxfordshire held on 6 May 2021

[Davıd Boothroyd]

banburyandbicester.laboursites.org/2021/08/11/mark-cherry-is-county-councillor-for-banbury-ruscote/

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Dec 2, 2019 16:10:48 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

I thought it had lapsed at the dissolution of Parliament or if not, been dismissed, but there's another hearing:

At 2 o’clock
APPLICATION WITHOUT NOTICE

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
THE ELECTION COURT
COURT 15
Before MR JUSTICE KNOWLES
AND MR JUSTICE HOLGATE

Tuesday, 3rd December 2019
Not before 2 o’clock
In the matter of a Parliamentary by-election for the Peterborough Parliamentary Constituency held on the 6 June 2019
APPLICATIONS
P355/19 Michael Green (Petitioner) v Lisa Forbes (Respondent)

To wrap up the ill-starred Peterborough election petition. The petitioner applied to withdraw the petition, accepting that meant paying the respondent's costs. Before the court could rule on the application to withdaw, Parliament was dissolved. The petitioner then applied for a declaration that the motion to withdraw had been "abated" or "dropped", that the court had no jurisdiction over the costs of the petition, and so the security for costs should be returned to him.

The Judges refused to grant such a declaration and said that dissolution of Parliament did not automatically end the petition or the Court's jurisdiction over it. In the circumstances they granted his motion to withdrawn the petition and ordered him to pay the costs of the respondent and the applications.

The judgment includes the details of the original petition. It was very unspecific:

5. That at the election the respondent and/or her agents were guilty of:
(1) Electoral fraud in a variety of forms amounting to corrupt and/or illegal practices. These included, in particular:
(a) personation contrary to sections 60—62 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (the 1983 Act);
(b) applying for a postal or proxy vote as some other person (whether that other person is living or dead or is a ctitious person) contrary to section 62A(2)(a) of the 1983 Act;
(c) otherwise making a false statement in, or in connection with, an application for a postal or proxy vote, contrary to section 62A(2)(b) of the 1983 Act;
(d) inducing the registration officer or returning officer to send a postal ballot paper or any communication relation to a postal or proxy vote to an address which has not been agreed to by the person entitled to the vote, contrary to section 62A(2)(c) of the 1983 Act;
(e) causing a communication relating to a postal or proxy vote or containing a postal ballot paper not to be delivered to the intended recipient, contrary to section 62A(2)(d) of the 1983 Act;
(f) casting votes, including postal votes, in the names of people not entitled to be on the electoral register, contrary to section 62A of the Representation of the People Act 1983;
(g) making false statements in declarations or forms used for any of the purposes of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (the 2000 Act) for the purpose of obtaining postal or proxy votes, contrary to paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 to the 2000 Act;
(h) attesting to applications under paragraph 3 or 4 of Schedule 4 to the 2000 Act when not authorised to do so or knowing that such application/s contain/s a statement which is false, contrary to paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 to the 2000 Act;
(i) acquiring the voting papers of electors, including those issued to postal voters, marking votes for the respondent on those papers and then casting the resulting fraudulent votes; and
(j) tampering with ballot papers, contrary to section 65 of the 1983 Act;
(2) The corrupt practice of bribery, contrary to section 113 of the 1983 Act; and
(3) The corrupt practice of undue inuence, contrary to section 115 of the 1983 Act.
6. Further or in the alternative, that there were corrupt and/or illegal practices for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of the respondent at the election and the said corrupt and/or illegal practices so extensively prevailed that they may reasonably be supposed to have a›ected the result of the election.

The only evidence offered was the presence of Tariq Mahmood at the count, that 372 postal votes were disallowed for failing the personal identifiers, and vague claims that large numbers of postal votes were delivered together, some were photographed and some voters had been promised gifts or transport for their vote. The petitioner stated they could not be specific as there was not time to investigate before the deadline for submitting a petition, and that the withdrawal request was because it was not possible to prove the electoral offences were committed by agents of the respondent.

[timrollpickering]

So basically either they submitted any claim they could come up with hoping to produce more evidence afterwards or they put in a pathetic case that would easily be struck out and give Nigel Farage something to rant about?

[Davıd Boothroyd]

One of the most important skills in politics is to be able to tell the difference between your own side's propaganda and an objective assessment of reality. And I think that a failure to do that was the main problem, joined by a lot of jumping to conclusions, wishful thinking, and possibly he was being goaded by those who were unable to believe Labour could have won fairly.

You can see some similar things going on in Arizona.

[iainbhx]

Aug 28, 2021 16:44:14 GMT timrollpickering said:

So basically either they submitted any claim they could come up with hoping to produce more evidence afterwards or they put in a pathetic case that would easily be struck out and give Nigel Farage something to rant about?

Sounds like Trumps lawyers.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Another story of relevance to baseless accusations of electoral fraud in Peterborough: www.rllaw.co.uk/peterborough-labour-councillor-gp-wins-libel-damages-apology-from-conservative-opponent-for-false-voter-fraud-claims/

[andrewteale]

The petition in Oldham, Coldhurst ward has been withdrawn.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ex-councillor-ordered-pay-more-22709779

[andrewteale]

We appear to have missed a petition arising out of the Hartlepool council election last year.

Outgoing Independent Union (elected as UKIP) councillor Bob Buchan lost his seat in Fens and Greatham ward to Labour last May by 10 votes. He launched a case alleging false statements by the Labour campaign. The Court ruled that the false statements did not relate to Buchan's personal character or conduct.

More: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60176831

[ricmk]

Feb 12, 2022 0:49:05 GMT andrewteale said:

We appear to have missed a petition arising out of the Hartlepool council election last year.

Outgoing Independent Union (elected as UKIP) councillor Bob Buchan lost his seat in Fens and Greatham ward to Labour last May by 10 votes. He launched a case alleging false statements by the Labour campaign. The Court ruled that the false statements did not relate to Buchan's personal character or conduct.

More: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60176831

If that article sums up the case fairly, I feel sorry for him.

He's likely lost his seat due to a lie by his opponent about him on an election leaflet.  How do you make an honest mistake about whether your opponent voted for planning permission?  And been taken for £48k in legal fees because of it.
Sounds like he didn't get advice on his prospects of success, but that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Judgment in Buchan v Elliott

[johnhemming]

Feb 12, 2022 1:56:58 GMT ricmk said:

Sounds like he didn't get advice on his prospects of success, but that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

The difficulty is that if you started getting the courts involved in disputes about the meaning of political statements there would be election petitions all over the place.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Indeed, and that's one reason why I think the people campaigning for "lying in politics to be a criminal offence" are wrong in their campaign.

[johnhemming]

Feb 21, 2022 17:07:52 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

Indeed, and that's one reason why I think the people campaigning for "lying in politics to be a criminal offence" are wrong in their campaign.

There is an additional problem which is that if a politician says for example Brexit will be good for the country and it turns out a lot of people think it isn't that does not mean that the politician has lied.

We do need to be careful as to where the line between the political process and any judicial system lies. I was quite worried about the local government code of conduct enforcing "respect".

[Davıd Boothroyd]

And indeed if a politician says that he believes Iraq has WMD, on the basis that all the intelligence agencies of the Western world have concluded the same thing, and Iraq has previously had them, and Iraq has demonstrably previously covered up their existence, and Iraq is behaving exactly like a country that has WMD but is still covering them up, then that doesn't mean the politician has lied if none are found.

[ilerda]

Similarly, “X voted to block Brexit” could be true if they supported a second referendum during the so-called indicative votes, but also false if they later voted in favour of the Withdrawal Agreement Act. Which one would the court use to test the veracity of the claim?

[Davıd Boothroyd]

We seem to have an election petition case in Selby. On the list tomorrow:

is Honour Judge Saffman (Commissioner)
Not before 10am
Election Court M372/21
Babington and others v Jessica Kate Cooper and others
Trial
Representation of The People Act 1983. At Selby District Council Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby, North Yorkshire, YO8 9FT
Church Fenton Parish Council, North Yorkshire

Relates to this parish election vote mix-up.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

The result as declared is here. No party candidates involved but the 15 vote gap between the bottom elected candidate and the unsuccessful one makes it likely that at least Joanna Mason's election will be avoided.

[johnloony]

Mar 7, 2022 17:25:40 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

We seem to have an election petition case in Selby. On the list tomorrow:

is Honour Judge Saffman (Commissioner)
Not before 10am
Election Court M372/21
Babington and others v Jessica Kate Cooper and others
Trial
Representation of The People Act 1983. At Selby District Council Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby, North Yorkshire, YO8 9FT
Church Fenton Parish Council, North Yorkshire

Relates to this parish election vote mix-up.

Petition dismissed because the errors weren't big enough to make a difference to who actually won. Costs awarded to the petitioners, because it was brought in good faith.

www.selby.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Final%20Judgment%20M372-21%20Babington%20%26%20ors%20v%20Cooper%20%26%20ors%20Election%20Petition.pdf

[peterl]

Apr 27, 2022 19:38:31 GMT johnloony said:

Mar 7, 2022 17:25:40 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

We seem to have an election petition case in Selby. On the list tomorrow:

is Honour Judge Saffman (Commissioner)
Not before 10am
Election Court M372/21
Babington and others v Jessica Kate Cooper and others
Trial
Representation of The People Act 1983. At Selby District Council Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby, North Yorkshire, YO8 9FT
Church Fenton Parish Council, North Yorkshire

Relates to this parish election vote mix-up.

Petition dismissed because the errors weren't big enough to make a difference to who actually won. Costs awarded to the petitioners, because it was brought in good faith.

www.selby.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Final%20Judgment%20M372-21%20Babington%20%26%20ors%20v%20Cooper%20%26%20ors%20Election%20Petition.pdf

I rather like this quote from one of the successful candidates: "Mr Ferris gave word that he did not intend to attend while Ms Mason gave word that she might “pop along for a while depending on how busy I am and how long it goes on for”.