Monday, October 7, 2019 ~ SOOKE
~ West Shore Voice News
To address concerns surrounding the recent by-election, an audit has been conducted of the voting books used for all voting opportunities offered in the 2019 Sooke By- Election, it was announced by the District of Sooke on Monday October 7.
The by-election general voting date was Saturday September 28, with advance voting held September 18 and 25.
“The audit included a line-by-line comparison of voters receiving a ballot for general voting, advance voting, mail-in ballots, new registrations and non-resident voting to demonstrate that no voter received more than one ballot,” it was stated by Chief Election Officer Carolyn Mushata.
“I am pleased to report that all ballots cast (1,447) were issued to 1,447 individual voters indicating that no double voting occurred,” said Mushata in a new release.
“Each voter signs a declaration that they are eligible to vote and that they have not already voted in the election before receiving their ballot. It is the voter’s responsibility to comply with the legislation,” she said.
The Sooke By-Election candidate with the highest number of votes was Dana Lajeunesse (286 votes). There were general concern among the public and some candidates that the three-vote margin (second place candidate was Kevin Pearson with 283 votes) was close enough to consider a recount.
The by-election was called and fulfilled to fill one vacant seat for Councillor on District of Sooke council (the seat was left vacant upon the passing of Brenda Parkinson).
A tally of 1,447 votes (370 of those from advance voting) represents 14% of 10,300 eligible voters.
Mushata announced the official by-election results at 10 am on Monday September 30 at the Sooke municipal hall.
In the days immediately following the election, Mushata said there would be no recount is based on this: “Under section 148 of the Local Government Act an application can be made for a judicial recount to be undertaken by the Provincial Court. An application may only be made on one or more of the following bases:
- That votes were not correctly accepted or ballots were not correctly rejected as required by the rules of section 139;
- That a ballot account does not accurately record the number of valid votes for a candidate;
- That the final determination under section 145 did not correctly calculate the total number of valid votes for a candidate.”
Lajeunesse has joined Mayor Maja Tait and fellow councillors Jeff Bateman, Al Beddows, Ebony Logins, Megan McMath and Tony St Pierre on District of Sooke Council for the 2018-2022 term.
========== PREVIOUS ARTICLES on this topic:
Request for Recount by candidate Kevin Pearson (September 30, 2019)
Sooke By-Election Results (September 28, 2019)