Ordering a last-minute change to the location of an election could lead to the disenfranchisement of voters, the Chief Justice found this week.

The Leader of the Opposition, a post held by Jarion Richardson, and Carl Neblett, a One Bermuda Alliance candidate for the House of Assembly, called for a judicial review of the decision to use Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church Hall for today’s Sandys North by-election.

They claimed that the venue was not neutral and argued that the decision to use it should be quashed because the site is the business place of the Reverend Emily Gail Dill, the Progressive Labour Party’s candidate for the seat.

Dr Dill confirmed earlier that she is a minister at the church, where her husband is the pastor.

Chief Justice Larry Mussenden declined the application this week and delivered his reasons yesterday.

In a written decision, he wrote that Dr Dill did have a connection to the Allen Temple Church, which the Parliamentary Registrar was not aware of when she researched locations for the election.

However, he said that such a connection did not necessarily make the location ineligible in a community as small as Bermuda.

The Chief Justice added that he was concerned about the late timing of the application for judicial review.

He wrote: “In my view, there was considerable time since August 31, 2024 when Dr Dill’s candidacy was announced to pursue other avenues in a more expedited manner and then to commence the judicial review application.

“My concern was that if the court took the view that the application should succeed and another election room needed to be selected, there was only one day to do so.”

Mr Justice Mussenden accepted that it would be extremely difficult to secure a new location and such a sudden change would risk disenfranchising voters.

He wrote: “I posed the question of what would happen if the court granted the application for a new election room but the Registrar was unable to secure and prepare a new location.

“The outcome would likely be that the parties return to the court today to seek further relief, with a possible outcome that a new order be made to restore Allen Temple Hall as the election room.

“Every aspect of these circumstances would have been disastrous such that it might have rendered the by-election an impossibility and thus disenfranchising the voter and causing a serious dent in the reputation of Bermuda.”

Mr Richardson had claimed that the criteria for a free and fair election could not be met when an electoral candidate had a close connection to the polling venue.

He wrote earlier to the Governor, Rena Lalgie, and asked for the venue to be switched. Ms Lalgie replied that she had “no explicit legislative authority to intervene”.

In court on Wednesday, lawyer Henry Tucker, who represented Mr Richardson and Mr Neblett, cited legislation that ruled that elections must be held at neutral venues.

Mr Tucker speculated that voters might be reluctant to vote against their pastor if the poll was held on church grounds.

However, in his ruling, Mr Justice Mussenden wrote: “In the context of Bermuda, which has small constituencies and a relatively small number of voters per constituency, it is likely that there will be connections between candidates and places in their community which can be used for election rooms.

“It seems commonsensical that it is highly likely that political parties will run in a constituency someone who hails from the constituency and who has links to it, for example by way of school ties, club ties, church ties, lodge ties and other charitable ties.

“In my view, not every connection leads to making a potential election room ineligible to be one.”

Mr Justice Mussenden went on to say that the Allen Temple Church and the AME Church of Bermuda had not taken a position on the candidates and he was not satisfied that attendees of the church would be affected one way or the other by the polling location.

He wrote: “In light of the circumstances and the above reasons, I am not satisfied that the principles of independence and neutrality of the election room have been undermined such that I should exercise my discretion to quash the decision to specify Allen Temple Hall as the election room.

“Thus, I am not satisfied that specifying Allen Temple Hall as the election room was unlawful and unfair or as otherwise complained of.”

In addition to Dr Dill and Mr Neblett, the seat will be contested by Free Democratic Movement founder Marc Bean and independent candidate Cire Bean.

In response to the ruling, Mr Richardson maintained the OBA’s belief that the venue was not neutral as required by law.

He noted that Mr Justice Mussenden accepted in his ruling that Dr Dill was an assistant pastor at the church and was registered to vote at a residence near the church.

Mr Richardson said: “Despite this clear connection, the court accepted the Parliamentary Registrar's evidence as to the extreme difficulty of changing the venue before tomorrow’s election.

“It is now for the voters to decide who should fairly and properly represent them in Sandys North.”

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