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Non-blacks are being blamed for allegedly defrauding the election of a school board seat reserved for African-Nova Scotians, prompting locals to re-examine the delicate task of how to police one of Canada’s only race-specific elections.

The dispute comes just as the Nova Scotia legislature is looking to stamp out a 20-year practice of mandating political protection for minority communities.

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Last Saturday, an unprecedented 920 people voted for the African-Nova Scotian representative to the Tri-County regional school board in southwestern Nova Scotia — a position that is selected by voters of African descent or the parents of children who are of African descent.

Suspiciously, according to losing candidate Michael Alden Fells, there were almost more votes than black people. According to the 2006 census, there were 1,125 people of African descent in the tri-county area, not all of whom were of voting age.