After losing to mayor-elect Ben Bell by just eight votes last week, former mayor Tracy Hicks applied to the court for a recount on Monday.
This required him to prove there were reasonable grounds to believe the tally could be incorrect in a case against the Gore District Council, which had its votes counted by Electionz.com electronically.
Mr Hicks said he hoped for a decision on the case yesterday, however at a meeting yesterday morning, Judge K.D. Kelly decided to allow time for each party to provide submissions to support or oppose the recount, with a final decision due after October 31.
"Subject to decision, placeholder is made for any recount to occur on Saturday, 5 November 2022, or alternatively Monday 7, November in Christchurch," Judge Kelly said.
Judge Kelly also granted Mr Bell’s request to be included as an interested party, who said he would be joining the defence against the recount.
"I am also confident that the vote counting procedures were correct, and that an accurate result was reached by Electionz.com on behalf of the council," Mr Bell said.
With the council’s chief executive Stephen Parry on leave until Tuesday, Mr Bell said the council had not put up a defence yet and therefore would not have cost anything as Mr Hicks was paying for his side of the case out of his own pocket.
Mr Bell was looking forward to Mr Parry’s return to provide a written statement on behalf of the council.
Electionz.com had submitted 140 pages of evidence which "demonstrate the checks and balances in place that can give our Gore community the confidence that their votes were tallied correctly".
"My appointed scrutineer, who attended the vote count in Christchurch, was able to confirm that these processes were followed," Mr Bell said.
"[Tracy Hicks] didn’t have a scrutineer there. I did, so from what I’ve seen it’s followed correctly but from his perspective, I can see why he might think it’s not followed correctly.
"He’s rightly questioned it — he has his concerns."
Mr Hicks said with the tight margin, he owed it to his supporters and himself to ensure no errors were made in the result.
"I’m not suggesting there was anything untoward at all, but it just seemed odd in a couple of areas."
There was only one informal vote but 114 blank votes, which was proportionally quite different from other neighbouring districts, Mr Hicks said.
"I know there was a lot of votes that came in at the last minute. Mistakes can occur."
