Update: PC Party election committee talking to Glover after court date set

A man who says he was inside the room where ballots were being counted for the PC election alleges men removed unsecured ballot boxes from a side door.

On Saturday evening, the PC Party of Manitoba announced Heather Stefanson would be named their new leader and subsequently the new premier of Manitoba. Her opponent, Shelly Glover would not concede, waiting more than 15 minutes to speak to media after Stefanson made her winning speech.

On Monday her lawyer, Dave Hill, was seeking an Order of the Court of Queen’s Bench and asking for Tuesday's 2 p.m. swearing-in of Stefanson to be delayed.

In a signed affidavit, Glover says the number of ballots she was told they had received and the number of ballots the party's president, Tom Wiebe, announced do not match. Glover says there is a difference of 503 ballots.

Glover will be appealing the ballot count in court on Thursday. She, along with Kevin Cook, a recently retired Winnipeg Police Service Officer have each submitted affidavits.

Cook says he was volunteering with the party, including selling membership and counting ballots as a Scrutineer.

The volunteer says there were roughly 90 people in the Victoria Inn ballroom for the count, unable to leave or access communication devices as they counted.

Once his box was counted, Cook says he told the Head Scrutineer for Glover, Destiny Watt, his tally. He says at this point his table was one of the last to count ballots.

"I was advised by Ms.Watt, and do verily believe, that the Applicant was ahead of Ms. Stefanson by 500 votes and would win the Election," Cooks says. "As the day progressed and further ballots were counted, it was clear that the Applicant had won the Election and would be the next Premier of Manitoba. I noticed that members of Ms. Stefanson’s team were visibly upset."

He says as this happened, he saw a few men being supervised by Wiebe remove unsecured ballot boxes from the ballroom, out a side door. Watt told Cook that the boxes were being put in a secure vehicle. She did not say what the final tally was, saying she would find out with everyone else.

"I know many of you drove two or three times to many locations to get ballots," Glover says Saturday, addressing people who may disagree with the election results. "I so believe that members deserve a chance to not only have a choice but also a voice. I would hope that our new premier and her team look at this race and find improvements in this party because this party must change."

Stefanson is sworn in as premier with her party standing by the process.

"Our election process was run independently and without preference to either candidate," the party says in a statement. "All ballots from the time they were received to the time they were counted were in the care and control of initially our independent security firm and subsequently our independent auditors. The counting was overseen by our auditors together with a scrutineer from each campaign. We hope that after our election committee talks to Ms. Glover and her advisors and respond to her concerns that they will see that the process and the results were handled appropriately, accurately and without favour."