PC voter registration deadline extended amid complaints

Members who wish to cast a vote originally had until March 2 to register, but the party now says it has extended the deadline to11:59 p.m. on March 5, as many saythey haveyet to receive their registration code in the mail.

HartleyLefton,chair of the PC's leadership committee, saysthe deadline extensionis simply a way to adapt to growing pains from a new system.

"As this is a new process, we did not know how long it would take to process verifications."

But at least one candidate's campaign has voiced their frustration with the system.

The campaign is hosting'PIN parties' to help voters sign-up, oneof which was interrupted this weekend in Scarborough as the system crashed during the event, Vanstonesaid.

The teams working with the other candidates Caroline Mulroney, Tanya Granic Allenand Christine Elliot's are also hosting registration clinics across the province.

"A lot of people have questions," said Mike Patton, spokesperson for TanyaGranicAllen's campaign. "This is a different process than anybody's really done before."

Registeredparty members need to enter a verification code,which they will receive by mail,ona page on the party's website.They will then be directed to a page to review and verify their personal information,including email addresses wheretheirballots will be mailed once voting begins. Finally, members will be asked to upload a piece of ID.

A section of Tanya Granic Allen's website is dedicated to helping voters sign up with step-by-step instructions.

Fraud Concerns

On Wednesday, Ford's teamraised even more concerns, this time over what they describe as the "large-scale use of 'prepaid' credit cards to pay for new memberships," which they say isa"clear violation of the membership rules."

"Prepaid credit cards have long been associated with the practice of signing up fake members, and as a part of a larger effort to commit voter fraud."reads a letter from Ford's campaign to PC executives.

The letter asks that"all currently active memberships that were paid for with prepaid credit cards be removed from the list of eligible voters for the purposes of the leadership vote."

Caroline Mulroney echoed Ford's concerns in an email.

"I remain concerned about the potential for fraudulent memberships. The party has already removed almost 500 'highly suspicious'members from the list and I believe they should continue to investigate individual suspicious cases," she wrote.

PC members will vote online, on ranked ballots, between March 2 and 8, with the winner beingannounced March 10.