Voter given used ballot at Fredericton polling station

When Fredericton's Stephanie Merrill went to her neighbourhood polling station this morning, she was in for asurprise. The ballot she was handed was already marked by another voter.

• Problems at the polls

It appears she received a spoiled ballot.

Merrill declined to comment on hertweet, though she did say she asked for, and received, a fresh ballot.

Elections Canada spokespersonFrancoise Enguehardwould not comment on a specific case, but did say there is a protocol in place for spoiled ballots.

She says allspoiled ballots are to be put in a separate boxand, at the end of the day, they are counted.

However, there is always room for error.

"It happens, you know? It happens," says Enguehard.

"They arenot machines, they are people and there are a lot of demands and [they are]under a lot of stress and people make mistakes. It happens."