A court date has been set to hear an application to have last fall's municipal election in Lambton Shores annulled.
The matter was put over to late May during a brief procedural hearing in the Superior Court of Justice at the Sarnia courthouse Thursday morning.
One of the six applicants challenging the results of the October 22 vote, Doug Bonesteel, said if their application was without merit, it would have been thrown out.
"It's an important day because there's now merit to this case that has been established and been determined," said Bonesteel. "We're going to court May 31, and this is a cause about the rule of law. This isn't about people losing elections and being unhappy. This is about what is going on in Ontario and the lack of oversight from the province with municipal elections."
Legal counsel for Lambton Shores is challenging Bonesteel's claims.
Analee Baroudi told BlackburnNews.com that there has been no review by the court of the merits of the case.
She said the position of Lambton Shores is that it followed the legislative process for the election, and the municipality is looking forward to defending that position in court.
The applicants allege that the way Lambton Shores conducted the internet/telephone vote contravened several sections of the Ontario Municipal Elections Act.
Allegations include the improper removal of names from the voter list, lack of notice, access and oversight, breaches of secrecy, and failure to investigate complaints.
-With files from Dave Dentinger
[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/video-1551379604.mp4"][/video]