Conservative Party strikes 1,351 names off membership list after investigation

The Conservative Party of Canada has removed 1,351 names from its membership list after discovering they were purchased anonymously and inappropriately. 

The announcement from the party comes a day after reality TV star and Tory leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary alleged “widespread vote rigging” in the race to replace Stephen Harper as the next permanent leader of the Conservative Party.

“Upon an expedited review, we found 1,351 memberships purchased through two IP addresses which were not purchased by those members. Those purchases were made anonymously through the Conservative Party of Canada website,” said Cory Hann, director of communications for the party, in an email to CBC. 

“The memberships purchased in contradiction to the published rules have been removed from our membership list, and are no longer eligible to vote.”

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On Thursday evening, O’Leary issued a statement alleging that “backroom organizers” were using untraceable prepaid credit cards to sign up new members, in some cases without their knowledge, and called for the party to look into the matter.

After an investigation, the party discovered that some of those allegations appeared to be true. 

“Upon an expedited review, we found 1,351 memberships purchased through two IP addresses which were not purchased by those members,” Hann said. “Those purchases were made anonymously through the Conservative Party of Canada website.”

The statement goes on to say that the party has received 1,233 prepaid credit card transactions through the party’s website and after examination found roughly half of those could be traced to the two IP addresses.

Just got word from CPC. They discovered 1331 fraudulently purchased “memberships”. Pleased w/ the Party, we need to be sure we find them all

—
@kevinolearytv

Hann said members of the party can be reassured the contest is, and will remain, fair and that all the rules for purchasing memberships are being followed.

Earlier on Friday Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose stressed the party has a sound voting process that does not easily lend itself to fraud.

All voters submitting their ballots by mail are required to send a photocopy of their photo ID, she noted.

“Look, nobody can vote unless they’ve paid for their own membership,” she said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House. “There’s a whole list of requirements … it’s very easy to spot these kinds of anomalies. Right now the party is looking into it.”

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-vote-rigging-investigation-1.4030828?cmp=rss