That’s what I heard from someone who was supposed to attend today’s hearing, at least — you know, the one in which Wai Young and a Conservative Party lawyer were going to appeal the decision to suspend the count last week. Apparently, the judge took the initiative to restart the count before the lawyers had even had the chance to make their arguments, so it’s back to the ballot-by-ballot examination tomorrow.
Will every vote be counted this time around? I guess that will depend on whether the margin is still as narrow after spending a few hours going through more of the unopened boxes of ballots; while a judicial recount cannot be terminated by any party, it can be sped up considerably if both candidates agree to suspend the hand count in favour of using the poll statements. Hopefully there will be at least one local media outlet allowed inside the counting room when the process resumes on Friday — given the mass confusion that has surrounded this story since it broke last week and the high level of public interest in the case, it’s hard to see how the judge could refuse permission to a reporter seeking to make sure that all the facts come out. (If ITQ was a few thousand miles closer, she’d be breaking land speed records to file a request with the court.)
Anyway, I’ll update this post with any new information that comes out.
UPDATE: From the comments, a link to a Vancouver Sun story on the recountroversy, which provides the most plausible explanation yet for what may have an honest mistake by the judge, based on an apparent misunderstanding of the Conservative candidate’s wishes:
Hira said the Conservatives appeared to concede during the recount process last Friday that Dosanhj was the winner, so Dohm signed a certificate, declaring Dosanjh the winner, which was sent to Ottawa.
But the Conservative candidate, Wai Young, later expressed she wanted a further recount.
