‘Ballots should not have been rejected’: Windsor judge orders recount of election results

A judge has officially called for a judicial recount in Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore after former MP Irek Kusmierczyk requested one. CTV Windsor’s Michelle Malusk

Elections Canada will recount the ballots in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore (WTL), following a one-hour hearing in Superior court Friday.

Former Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk lost the riding to the Conservative candidate Kathy Borrelli by 77 votes. The initial count had the difference at 233.

Kusmierczyk’s lawyer, Jeff Hewitt argued some “...ballots should not have been rejected.”

“Those are where the problems lie,” Hewitt said, advising the court that 536 votes were dismissed by Elections Canada employees.

Hewitt cited the affidavits of 14 “experienced” scrutineers; one of whom took pictures of rejected ballots, while all others were asked by the lawyers to “recreate” what they observed.

In at least six cases, a voter put an ‘X’ in the circle beside Kusmierczyk and a check mark on the other side of his name on the ballot.

Another scrutineer saw a ballot with a check mark in Kusmierczyk’s circle and the words “I vote for Irek” written on the ballot. Another wrote the word “liberal.”

Court learned another ballot was rejected because a check for the People’s Party of Canada candidate Nick Babic had a “tail” that moved down into the circle below.

Hewitt also told Justice Ross Macfarlane that in three examples, a form with the final results for WTL either didn’t include Kusmierczyk’s vote totals or were otherwise incomplete.

In another example, two people counting the votes at one poll couldn’t get the total number of votes to balance with the total number of ballots issued.

“We’re not here to beat up on the people filling out the forms,” Hewitt said, noting all 14 affidavits were from experienced scrutineers who the court had no reason to “deny their credibility.”

Court learned the bar for approving a judicial recount is a “low threshold”, according to Hewitt.

“There’s two basic principles that come into play,” Hewitt said.

“Is there anything on the ballot that specifically identifies the person casting the ballot? And a second is, are the markings on the ballot sufficient to demonstrate the intention of the voter?”

After hearing all of Hewitt’s evidence, the judge ordered a recount of all the ballots.

CTV News reached out to Borrelli for comment, which read:

“I respect the order by Justice Ross McFarland for a recount of the ballots. My team will cooperate fully in all that is required.”

Recount set for May 20

Friday’s ruling brings the total number of judicial recounts from the 2025 Federal Election up to four; with recounts in Terra Nova, Nfld., Milton, Ont., and Terrebonne, Que.

Lawyer Eli Mogil is involved in all three and noted they can’t conduct three recounts at the exact same time.

The recount in Newfoundland is underway with Milton set to begin Tuesday.

The Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore recount will begin on Tuesday, May 20 at a location in the Green Valley Plaza on Tecumseh Road East.

Mogil expects it will take three days to complete, with Friday as a “buffer”.

“It’ll be tight,” Mogil said Friday.

“Someone here will go that weekend, whoever will have prevailed. It will finish in time for the most important thing, which is the return to Parliament.”

Parliamentarians go back to work on Monday, May 26.

The court is in the process of notifying all seven candidates who ran in WTL advising them about the recount. They are all entitled to be present as each ballot is recounted in front of Justice Macfarlane.

Kusmierczyk is slated to hold a news conference Friday afternoon.

CTV News has reached out to Borrelli for comment.