Heather Wright/The Independent

A Bothwell man is wondering why he received two voter cards, suggesting the election is “rigged.”

George Copeland lives on Walnut Street in the Chatham-Kent community. He called The Independent on Monday – Election Day – to say he’d received a voter card with his full name and only his post office box number telling him to vote in the Chatham-Kent-Leamington riding at the Dresden polling station.

The next one came with his full address, on Walnut Street, telling him to vote at the Bothwell Legion.

He called The Independent Monday morning as he was heading out to vote saying the “election is rigged.” He told us he planned to vote in Bothwell and then tell the polling clerk that he was heading to Dresden to cast his ballot again.

Rita Drury works at the Chatham-Kent-Leamington Returning Office. She also received a call from Copeland. “Even without him giving me his address, I said, ‘Let me guess, you live on Walnut Street.'”

Drury says the voter didn’t wait for an explanation but hung up the phone.

“Once we amalgamated to Chatham-Kent, our database does not recognize all the small communities, so we have multiple Walnut streets… so it could be a Walnut Street in Bothwell, but it’s also Walnut Street in Wallaceburg or in Ridgetown, and if it’s not entered in correctly, it puts them in the wrong poll,” says Drury.

She estimates over 100 voter cards were affected by the mix up. Some people, like Copeland, received revised voter cards telling them to vote in their home community.

Drury says an elector with voter cards for two polling station may be able to cast a ballot in both places but it will be caught later in the process.

The polling clerks will correct the error as when the first vote is cas and then, as the votes are hand counted, Elections Canada workers will see if a voting number is used twice. “We would send that off to Elections Canada, and he will be investigated for double voting, which has consequences,” Drury said.

Drury acknowledges there may be others who have the same issue, she says voters should go to the poll in their own community.

“The correct card that sends them to a poll that was it with is within their community, within a five minute, 10-minute drive, is where they actually vote. We are not asking electors to drive 40 minutes, to an hour to vote.”

For his part, Copeland found three other people with the same issue when he went to vote. As for the Elections Canada explanation, he said “I’m not buying it…This could be happening all over the country.”