This candidate wasn't on the ballot and it may have changed the Saint John Harbour race

An independent candidate who campaigned in the critically close Saint John Harbour riding but wasn't listed on the ballot when voters went to the polls, might'veinadvertently affected the outcome of New Brunswick'selection.

"That will never be known," said Paul Harpelle, a spokesperson with Elections NB.

Harpelle was speaking tothe effect Adam Salessemight've had on the final vote count in Saint John Harbour and provincial seatsbetween the Liberal and Progressive Conservatives even though he wasn'ton theballot.

"All of this came to light to us after the fact," said Harpelle.

"It was just an unfortunate circumstance."

• NDP leader loses in Saint John Harbour as party is shut out across province
• Tory wave sweeps across Saint John region as PCs win 9 seats
• Tabulation machines make chance of flipping votes remote in recounts

Saint John Harbour ended up as a 10-vote win for Liberals over the Progressive Conservatives on election night, keeping the Liberals within one seat of their main rival. Butlosing the seat to the PCs would have left them trailing by three.

The near tie in seats has allowed Liberal Leader Brian Gallant to mount an aggressive effort to try and retain power. But the effect Salesse might have had on the tiny winning margin in Saint John Harbourthat in turn has left the entire New Brunswick government hanging in the balanceis impossible to gauge.

When I woke up that morning I thought I was on the ballot.-AdamSalesse, independent candidate

Salesse, a Saint John businessman, registered to run as an independent candidate in the riding and believed he had filled out all the paperwork to be on the ballot.

Naturally, he launched a serious effort to win votes.

He spent $5,000 on 16 prominent roadside signs announcing his candidacy and on printing and mailing 12,500 pamphlets to every household in hisriding.

"I wanted to be independent because I have my own ideas, said Salesse.

He described those ideas as "in the middle" of both the PCs and Liberals.

"I kind of want to help people like the Liberals want to help but I want to keep taxes down like Progressive Conservatives," he said.

"I try to find balanced solutions not too far on one side."

Submitted only part of the paperwork

But Salesseonly submittedpart of the required paperwork to get on the ballot andonly discovered the mistake when his parents went to vote for him at the advance poll on Sept.15nine days before the general electionand couldn'tfind his name anywhere on the ballots they were given.

"When I woke up that morning I thought I was on the ballot," said Salesse.

"They called me right away and said, 'You're not on the ballot' and I was like, 'What do you mean I'm not on the ballot?'And then my world kind of stopped."

Harpelle said Salesse did properly register as an independent candidate, but did not take the critical step of filing nomination papers signed by 25 local voters and so did not qualify to be up for election.

'I take responsibility for it'

Salesse accepts that is what happened. But he says he has no previous experience with politics and feels since Elections NB knew he was registered to run, they should have inquired whether he had changed his mind or had run into problems when his paperwork did not show up.

"I didn't understand the process and I take responsibility for it," said Salesse.

"But I don't think it would have been too much to ask for somebody at some point somewhere to reach out to me."

Because Salesse did not know he was off the ballot he campaigned as though he was.

Elections NB said they didn't know Salesse was still campaigning,even though hissigns were on prominent display and his pamphlets were everywhere.

Spoiling the ballot

"We're not driving around the province to see who has signs up," said Harpelle.

"We did not get any complaints from other campaigns in Saint John Harbour indicating there's an individual out campaigning that's not a candidate."

When he went to go vote, Salessespoiled his own ballot and posted a picture of it online following his$5,000 campaign.

Voters who liked the extensive platform Salesse delivered to their homes in his leaflet regardingtaxes, debt, the environment, seniors, students and other issues and decided to support him, only found out once in the voting booth he was not an option.

What they did with their votes at that point is unknown, but it is likely several dozen were simply placed with other candidates.

Salessesaid his own parents voted for another candidate when they realized they could not cast a ballot for him.

In the eight other ridings where independent candidates were on the ballot all but two polled more than 170 votes.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest news updatesdelivered right to yourinbox with The506er.Subscribe here. And then let us know what you think byemailing us:the506er@cbc.ca.