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Section 3.19 of the New Elections Law states that "No Registration Roll may
be altered within the thirty (30) days period immediately prior to an election,
including Election Day, except upon order of the Honorable Supreme Court of
Liberia on the determination of a manifest error."
In arguments before us, Appellants attempted to impress upon this Board that
recording certain voters' names on what is referred to as an addendum
amounts to an alteration of the FRR. We disagree. In the mind of this Board,
the recording/writing of the names and other information of a person who is
a registered voter but by reason of official assignment is in another location
and by procedure is allowed to vote only in the presidential election, or as a
result of° a printing error, whose name was not printed on the FRR for a
particular polling place, does not constitute alteration. To "alter" means to add
or remove. Additionally, we note that Section 3.7 of the New Elections Law
states that "No registration roll or other election shall be invalidated on the
ground that it is not printed or because of any error made in the copying or
printing thereof."
Accordingly, the fact that a voter's particulars did not appear on the FRR will
not be ground to invalidate any document or results concerning the October
10, 2017 elections. Accordingly, we hold that the Hearing Officer did not err.
APPELLANTS' ALLEGATION CONCERNING BALLOT BURIED IN GRAND GEDEH
As to Appellants' allegation that ballot papers were discovered buried, in
Grand Gedeh county and turned over to a police officer, witness Lighe testified
that same were "Know Your Candidate',' posters that were altered and used
in the process, and that the LNP in Grand Gedeh investigated this matter and
turned the said "Know Your Candidates" posters to the NEC. The record shows
that Appellants did not rebut this testimony.
APPELLANTS' ALLEGATION CONCERNING 1109 VOTES
As to Appellants' allegation that the CDC ticket was given 1109 votes at the
Tokpaipolu Public School, polling place in District #6, polling place #1 in Bong.
County, in excess of the required registered voters at said polling place,
witness Lighe stated that it was an inadvertence, on the part of the Presiding
Officer, but same was corrected and that only 110 votes were processed as
cast for the CDC ticket. The corrected "record of count" signed the parties was
testified to and admitted into evidence. For the benefit of this decision, we
herein produce the original record of the count:
As can be seen from the "record of the count" on which the votes each
candidate received at the said polling place were recorded, the total number
of votes cast there was 270, out of which 256 votes were recorded as valid and
14 votes as invalid. The CDC ticket received 110 votes; a combined total of 146
votes were received by other candidates. 110 plus 146, equals 256. Also, the
above "record of the count" makes it clear that a red mark was placed on the
number 9 that appears to the right of the 110 votes received by the CDC ticket,
and same had no impact on any candidate's vote.
The Honorable Supreme Court has defined fraud as the employment of trick,
artifice or deception to cheat or mislead another, and that it is not sufficient
to merely allege fraud as a basis for relief; it must be established by proof. For
reliance, see: Kontar v. Mouwaffak, 17 LLR 446; Monrovia Construction
Corporation v. Wazami, 23 LLR 58; Scaf v. Ricketts, 28 LLR 263; Francis v. The
Mesurado Fishing Company, Ltd., 20 LLR 542; Massaquoi v. Massaquoi, 35 LLR
508.