WINDSOR — The mayor of Essex has been charged stemming from an investigation looking into the municipal election in Essex.
65-year-old Lawrence Snively, the mayor in Essex, has been charged with procuring persons to vote in a municipal election when those persons were not entitled to do so.
The OPP began investigating the complaints in October 2018 after several complaints were received of proxy ballots being signed without proper consent.
Proxy ballots are used to give someone permission to vote on behalf of another person.
Councillor Sherry Bondy raised concerns back in 2018 and is calling on the mayor of Essex to step down.
"Elections need to be a place where we trust the person in the seat and how can we possibly trust somebody now," she says. "I hate to say it but I was right all along. Unfortunately, not a lot of people listened to me, but the police got to the bottom of it."
She points out democracy is the most important thing and, "When you start skewing the results, everything you do after comes into question."
Bondy says these are serious allegations.
"I do believe that we do need to look at what is next for Essex," she adds. "Charged is a big statement and if you look at all the evidence that I have here and all of the complaints that I have in the community, any noble person would just walk away."
Ron Rogers ran for mayor in the 2018 municipal election and finished second.
He feels Snively needs to step down as mayor and also should step down immediately from the police services board.
"It's unfortunate that Essex has made the headlines so much in the last number of years for unfortunately negative issues," says Rogers. "I do feel that we have some good people on our council right now and they will I hope step up to the plate and handle things as best as they can."
The OPP says it has now completed its investigation relating to the reported misuse of proxy voters during the 2018 Municipal Election in the town of Essex.
Snively will appear in court March 30, 2020
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi and Teresinha Medeiros