Former Yukon Liberal candidate Tamara Goeppel pleads guilty to election charge

Former Yukon Liberal candidate Tamara Goeppel has pleaded guilty to one count of violating the territory's Elections Act during the 2016territorial campaign.

Goeppelwas ontrial this week in Yukon Territorial Court facing three charges related to misusing proxy forms. She had initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but on Tuesday she changed her plea to guilty on one charge. The two other charges are expected to be stayed.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of$5,000, and/orimprisonment forup to a year. Sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday in Yukon Territorial Court.

In 2016, Goeppel and her campaign team in the Whitehorse Centre riding visited sheltersand other places downtown that areknown to house vulnerable or transient people.Thecampaigners got severalpeople to sign proxy voter forms, giving someone chosen by the campaign team the right to vote on their behalf.

Crown prosecutor Leo Lane said in court on Tuesday that the issue is that proxy forms are supposed to be used only in cases where the voter would be outside Yukon on election day.

Goeppel has said in the past that she was trying to help vulnerable people vote, whomight not know if they'd be in the territory on voting day.

Witness says he was informed, signed voluntarily

Goeppel changed her plea on Tuesdayafter the court heard from a witness who signed a proxy form.

The witness, Earl MacLeod, told the court hedid not feelwronged by the candidate.

Macleod said he was living at the Chilkoot Inn in Whitehorse in October 2016 when he was approached by two people with Goeppel's campaign. He did not identify Goeppel by name as one of the people.

MacLeod said the two people identified themselves clearly as canvassing for the Yukon Liberal party.

He remembered the canvassers first tried to convince him to vote by offering a ride on polling day. When he declined, they offered the proxy form as another option.

"I couldn'tbe bothered to go out and vote for anybody so I signed the form and said, 'fine, sure good luck to you,'" MacLeod saidas he spoke byvideoconferencefrom Vernon, B.C.

"I knew it was for the Liberal party voting," he added.

Proxy forms require a person to tick a box saying they will be out of the territory on voting day.

The Crown repeatedly asked MacLeod whether that statement was true.

He replied that he meant he "wouldn't be around to vote" on voting day, as he had no intention to attend a polling station.

"I am not going to be around for voting, because I'm not going to bother standing around," he said. "I just couldn't be concerned with going," he said.

Pressed again about travel and whether he knew he'd be outside Yukon on polling day MacLeod said he had vague plans at the time to leave Yukonand didn't know if he would be.

"I don't know. Let's say it's true," he said with a shrug.

Goeppelended up placing second in Whitehorse Centre in 2016, losing toNDP leader Liz Hanson by 55 votes.

In a statement on Tuesday, Premier Sandy Silver who dodged questions during the 2016 campaign about the allegations against Goeppel said it's important that Yukon's election laws are upheld, and voters' rights are protected.

"When serious questions are raised about whether a candidate for elected office has followed the rules, they must be addressed.Today's court proceedings have confirmed that the law was broken and I accept those findings," Silver said.

With files from Claudiane Samson