Before a federal election in Terrebonne, an election worker identified a mistake with the postal codes on special ballot envelopes weeks prior, but did not report it to supervisors. This error was revealed in legal documents as part of a court challenge initiated by a former Bloc Québécois candidate who lost by a single vote to a Liberal opponent in the April election.
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné contested the election outcome in Terrebonne, a suburb north of Montreal, in Superior Court after losing by one vote to Tatiana Auguste, the current Liberal MP, following a close recount.
The legal action stemmed from a voter, Emmanuelle Bossé, whose ballot was returned as undeliverable despite being mailed early in April with an Elections Canada-provided envelope. The ballot was in support of the Bloc Québécois.
An internal investigation revealed that around April 6, 2025, an employee in charge of the riding noticed a postal code discrepancy on special ballots, leading to incorrect mailing addresses. Although the employee rectified the mistake promptly by replacing labels on unused ballots, it was estimated that at least 40 envelopes with the wrong code had already been sent out.
Sinclair-Desgagné argued that this mistake had hindered an elector from voting by special ballot, impacting the election results. The returning officer of Terrebonne admitted to being informed of the error only in May 2025 after media coverage.
Elections Canada reported that out of 116 special ballot requests, 19 were not returned by the deadline, while five were received late and thus not counted. The special ballot return rate was below the national average at just under 72 percent.
Despite this, Danielle Duquette from Elections Canada stated there were no widespread issues detected with special mail voting in the constituency. The chief electoral officer, Stéphane Perrault, noted that any errors hindering voting rights should be escalated to higher authorities.
The investigation into the special ballot discrepancies during the last federal election commenced in September, with a court hearing scheduled later in October in St-Jérôme, near Montreal.
