When i brought up the issue of Valid/Vs Cast votes sometime last year,
http://nipate.com/legal-...hat-is-50-1-t17648.html i was hoping that one of the teams would go to court to seek an advisory opinion. If that would have happened, the ruling made by the courts would be deemed to be unbiased. But of course, none went so we have to deal with that.
There's something else that i see so-called experts are not addressing: what exactly is a
REJECTED vote?
(I will leave out the definition of cast votes so that CORDians don't politicize this.)
back to rejected votes:
So let's look at the constitution and what it says:
(4) A candidate shall be declared elected as President if the
candidate receives—
(a) more than half of all the votes cast in the election; and
(b) at least twenty-five per cent of the votes cast in each of more
than half of the counties.
So, the constitution does not state, but implies, that the person must receive more than half of ALL the PRESIDENTIAL votes cast. For example, if you receive votes for an MP, but not president (the constitution allows that but the election act doesn't,) then you can be the MP for Langa'ta, but those votes will not cause you to be president. Meaning? The MP votes are irrelevant when it comes to the president vote.
If i throw a piece of paper in the ballot box, will that be a spoilt/rejected/cast vote? Certainly Not!
What if i throw an ODM nomination ballot paper in the box, will that be a spoilt/rejected/cast vote? Certainly Not!
What if, i sneak in with a 2010 referendum paper and throw it inside the ballot box? Never!
So, why does a vote for the County rep, cast in the presidential ballot box count as a rejected vote?
It doesn't make sense - and i'll tell you why ....
If any polling station has a voter turnout that's more than the registered voters, that center will have all the votes cancelled.
If a center has 100 voters registered, and all of them turn up, that's 100 vote in the president's ballot
Wht if 1 person throws the county rep's ballot paper into the presidential ballot, then after realizing his mistake, casts the presidential ballot paper into the ballot box?
This brings the total valid votes to 100, and the rejected vote to 1 - bringing the total to 101 votes. Voter turnout - 101%.
As you can see, by counting the county rep's vote as a "vote" is stupid.
There is nothing like a spoilt vote: it's either a vote (valid,) a spoiled ballot paper, or an unused ballot paper, or a rejected vote. But if the vote is rejected, how can it be a vote?
CONCLUSION
1. Jubilee should go to court and demand a constitutional interpretation of the meaning
VOTE and how it differs from a
BALLOT PAPER or a
FOREIGN OBJECT inside a ballot box. Scenario, if i cast an unmarked ballot paper inside a ballot box, is that a vote? For it to be a vote, it MUST be properly marked AND cast into the right box. Leaving any of these out makes you vote irrelevant in decision making
2. Demand that the IEBC carries out an audit of ALL the "rejected votes" to see how many of them are foreign objects (stray votes) that Should not be in the presidential tally.
In making a determination on this, according to the constitution:
In exercising judicial authority, the courts and tribunals shall be guided by the following principles—
a. justice shall be administered without undue regard to procedural technicalities; and
b. the purpose and principles of this Constitution shall be protected and promoted.
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