Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
An Auckland judge has upheld a petition in the Manukau District Court calling for a judicial inquiry following allegations of fraud in an Auckland local body election.
Judge Richard McIlraith on Tuesday ruled that the irregularities materially affected the result, declaring the election of local board members for the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board void.
A new election will now be held.
The hearing followed a petition by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, who claimed to have received reports of voting papers being stolen from residents and submitted without their consent.
Dale Ofsoske, an independent electoral officer for Auckland, was the respondent to the petition.
Vi Hausia told RNZ he had mixed feelings about the judge's ruling.
"I'd rather not have been in this situation, but I also feel relieved that the concerns raised, shared and witnessed in Papatoetoe have been recognised by the courts, and the judge made a strong ruling in favour of our democracy and our electoral integrity," he said.
Vi Hausia said the ruling highlighted the shortcomings of the postal ballot system.
"The system is known to be easy to interfere with, and it's hard to ensure accountability," he said. "So today was an unfortunate event where the risks have unfortunately come to fruition."
He expressed relief that communities could still have confidence that safeguards, like the courts, were in place to uphold democratic systems when needed.
Vi Hausia said the court process had been an uphill climb.
"I'm not a lawyer, I'm an engineer and I've been only in the local government for one term so when the results came out and the concerns were raised, I knew there was an issue I had to bring to the forefront, and my greatest worry was that if I said nothing, nothing would have happened," he said.
"So, I'm very happy with where things have gotten for our community and our country," he said.
At a preliminary hearing at Manukau District Court in November, Judge Richard McIlraith ordered five ballot boxes containing votes from the electorate to be transferred from Auckland District Court, where they were being kept, to Manukau for scrutineering in the presence of Judge McIlraith, legal counsel for Hausia and Ofsoske, as well as Ofsoske himself .
Seventy-nine voting papers were subsequently identified during examination as having been cast without the rightful voter's knowledge.
Lehopoaome Vi Hausia is a former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member. Photo: Supplied
At a hearing earlier this month, legal counsel for Ofsoske acknowledged there had been irregularities in some of the ballots cast.
Papatoetoe was the only Auckland electorate to record a significant rise in turnout in the latest local body election.
While other Auckland areas saw turnout drop, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7 percent.
All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team.
However, Judge McIlraith held grave concerns the voting irregularities outlined earlier this month represented the "tip of the iceberg" of issues that affected the outcome of the election.
"I am seriously concerned that the extent of votes being cast in this election by people other than for whom the voting papers were intended is much greater than the level known by Mr Ofsoske and that it is more likely than not that they were cast for POAT (Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team) candidates," he said.
"This fraudulent voting has, in my view, 'permeated or infected' the election to such an extent that it is more likely than not that the margin by which Mr Hausia (and possibly others) was unsuccessful may well have been extinguished."
The petition also argued that the result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns and warranted examination.
Peter Dons, a candidate with Independently Papatoetoe, said the ruling was a "great day for democracy".
"Judge McIlraith has determined beyond all reasonable doubt that the outcome of the election was affected by a large number of fraudulently created votes by members of the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team," he says.
Dons questioned the postal voting system and hoped local elections would soon be held alongside general elections, giving voters a more reliable way to cast their ballots.
The Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board has two subdivisions, with the Ōtara having three seats and Papatoetoe four.
None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.
