Butler to file fresh affidavit

Bev Butler
Bev Butler
Dunedin City Council candidate Bev Butler will return to the Dunedin District Court today as she continues her fight for an election recount without the threat of court-imposed costs.

Ms Butler was last week granted a recount by district court Judge Stephen Coyle, at an estimated potential cost of up to $70,000, after falling just 43 votes short of incumbent Cr Colin Weatherall in this month's local body elections.

However, her request for an assurance she would not face additional costs above a $750 deposit was not granted, with Judge Coyle saying she should be "under no illusions" an unsuccessful recount could result in significant costs being awarded against her.

Ms Butler was given until noon today to consider her next move and advise the court and Dunedin electoral officer Pam Jordan whether she wanted to proceed with the recount.

However, Ms Butler - the former Stop the Stadium president - said when contacted yesterday she instead planned to file a new affidavit with the court this morning.

She would not discuss its contents.

"I'm going to take something into the court ... I'm not going to say anything until I've actually taken that to the court.

"It's to do with the recount but I can't say anything until I've actually lodged it."

She planned to deliver the affidavit in person "fairly early in the morning" to beat the midday deadline, but it was "not necessarily" intended to extend the deadline.

Ms Butler's move comes after she argued - in an affidavit filed with the court last week - the close election result and the similarity of names on the ballot paper justified a recount.

On Thursday, Judge Coyle ruled he was satisfied Ms Butler had reasonable grounds to subjectively believe the result was incorrect, although he stressed that did not mean flaws had been found in the election result.

The Local Electoral Act 2001 did not require him to test evidence; only the "reasonableness of Ms Butler's subjective view".

It was "important to keep in mind that all I have found is that there are reasonable grounds for Ms Butler believing that the declaration is incorrect".

Ms Butler responded by appealing to Mayor-elect Dave Cull to give an assurance no additional costs would be sought from her, but Mr Cull declined to do so.

The recount, if it went ahead, would involve checking almost 34,000 voting papers over four days and electionz.com would be required to hire 20 people to reopen 680 batches of 50 voting papers, check and enter the results.

Ms Jordan said a preliminary quote from electionz.com for the work was between $60,000 and $70,000.

 

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