The former election clerk for the riding of Saint John Harbour took the stand Tuesday in a trial that's been nine months in the making.
Tammy Dunlop described her day-to-day experience as the second-in-command at the returning office and the inner workings of the office.
During cross-examination, Dunlop described Patrick McCaffrey, the man placed in charge of the returning office, as someone who had “challenges with technology.”
The court heard how she took charge of most of the technical and operational matters.
Dunlop admits there was a conversation with chief electoral officer Kim Poffenroth about removing McCaffrey from his role, but Poffenroth had concerns about piling more work on Dunlop.
That was a conversation she says happened about 12 days before the Sept. 24 election date.
According to Dunlop's testimony, there were conversations about firing both the training officer and the returning officer for the riding of Saint John Harbour.
But the court heard that the training officer, Nathan Davis, resigned from the position before he could be terminated.
“Those are two of the top three people running the riding,” said Barry Ogden. “So I guess that really makes you wonder about the voting and such in the riding of Saint John Harbour.”
Ogden, the Progressive Conservative candidate, is alleging 78 instances of voting irregularities in the riding and wants the results of the election set aside.
He lost the seat to current Liberal MLA Gerry Lowe in the provincial election by just 10 votes.
Five days have been set aside for this court case, which is taking place following nine pre-trial hearings.
The case continues here at the Saint John courthouse on Thursday morning at 9 o'clock. Lowe's legal team will be calling their last witness who they will be seeking to have qualified as an expert witness.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Lyall.
