I thank the acting delegate and the delegate for their confidence in me. I hope to be of service to the Elections Commission by giving my time to ensure the continued smooth functioning of our elections as prescribed by law. The Elections Commission plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of our democracy and I'm honoured to be entrusted with the position.
What are your opinions about the May 2023 General Election issue?
It is very important, in my view, that errors be corrected
before the results are finalized. I am categorically opposed to any option that allows the Elections Commission to retroactively alter the results of an election even if it wouldn't change the legal office-holder. That has the potential to undermine the legitimacy of an election. I recognize that everyone already knows the results are wrong and would probably also know in a future election in which, say, the errors actually did wind up in the wrong candidate winning, but if the Election Commission were to retcon its own results for such an election election it could (a) cause a legal crisis as to who is the real office-holder, and more importantly (b) undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process in a very symbolically powerful way. For the same reason I don't think we can do anything about the results of this past election other than accept that they were wrong and we can do better in the future.
I support broadening the 6 hour window for election commissioners to submit challenges--it would be a shame to miss an error because half the Commission was asleep the whole time!
I also think the idea of having the whole Election Commission vote to certify the results is a good one. The concern was raised about inactive commissioners holding up the process, but there are ways of expediting the process if that happens, such as having a maximum timeframe for the vote's duration after which the votes that were cast are the ones that are counted, non-voting Commissioners notwithstanding. I am of course open to considering any proposals.
