Arthur Hamilton
A divided court splits 6-3 on whether an Elections Canada typo was serious enough to undo a riding decided by one vote
By Julius Melnitzer | September 21, 2026
A divided Supreme Court of Canada has explained why it annulled Terrebonne’s 2025 federal election from the bench in February.
The riding was decided by a single vote and undone by a single ballot that was never counted.
The court allowed the appeal on Feb. 13, 2026, at the close of oral argument, vacating the seat that day with reasons to follow. Terrebonne voted again on April 13 and returned Liberal Tatiana Auguste, who had won the annulled election by one vote. This time her margin was roughly 700 votes.
The reasons in Sinclair-Desgagné v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer), released on Sept. 18, split the court 6-3.
The case originated with an Elections Canada worker preparing address labels for mail-in ballot return envelopes. He typed the wrong final three characters of the polling station’s postal code. MORE . . .
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based writer who focuses on law, legal affairs, and the business of law. Follow him on LegalWriter.net or email him at julius@legalwriter.net.