Newfoundland and Labrador's 2021 pandemic election will finally be tried in court

Whymarrh Whitby (left) and Alison Coffin stand outside the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court building in St. John's on Monday, March 3, 2025. The two are involved in a lawsuit alleging the 2021 provincial election was riddled with irregularities that ultimately denied Whitby his right to vote.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN’S — A man who says his right to vote was denied in Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2021 election will finally have his day in court.

In a decision released today, the provincial Supreme Court ordered a trial to begin in June in Whymarrh Whitby’s legal challenge of the province’s pandemic-delayed election four years ago.

Whitby’s suit asks for the election results in his district to be overturned, and he said in an interview that the prospect of a trial gives him hope that justice will be served.

The St. John’s man filed the lawsuit soon after the March 2021 election that yielded a Liberal majority, alleging officials failed to run a vote that was fair, impartial and in compliance with provincial law.

Whitby says he never received a ballot after a COVID-19 outbreak prompted election officials to cancel all in-person voting and shift to a mail-in vote.

Lawyers for former chief electoral officer Bruce Chaulk, a defendant in the suit, argued unsuccessfully that Whitby’s challenge was moot because another provincial election is expected this year.

Whitby was registered to vote in the St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi district, where former provincial NDP leader Alison Coffin, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, lost her seat by 53 votes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2025.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press