Tie vote in Cape Breton municipal election to be decided by draw Friday

The councillor for a municipal district in northern Cape Breton will be decided later this week by drawing a name from a box, after two candidates ended up with the same number of votes in last month's municipal election.

Wanda Hennick and Amy MacKinnon both said constituents were unhappy with the rules under Nova Scotia's Municipal Elections Act, which requires the random selection of a winner in the event of a tie.

Hennick and MacKinnon each got 145 votes in Victoria County's District 8, which includes Dingwall, Aspy Bay and Bay St. Lawrence.

Patterson Gray-Rochon got 85 ballots and Ricky Buchanan picked up 36. They won't be part of the draw. 

Hennick said she considered boycotting the draw, but has decided to attend the provincial court hearing Friday morning in Sydney to find out the results.

"We had the option of doing it by phone ... but I think I owe it to my constituents to be there for the actual recount," she said. "I was going to kind of boycott it, but I want to go up and see the process of it and then maybe if it's me or Amy that gets in, then maybe we can do something to change this elections act."

MacKinnon said she's not sure yet whether she'll attend the recount in person.

"It's a six-hour return drive, without anything else, from my doorstep to the courthouse doorstep. So I think that's playing a huge factor in whether or not I want to go up," she said.

MacKinnon said many voters feel a random draw is not democratic and the law should be changed to allow for a runoff vote or a byelection.

"The complaints and the concerns that people are putting forth is if it's being drawn out of a box, then why didn't we all just put the four names in a box and draw it out, because it wouldn't have mattered who you voted for," she said.

"It'll be interesting to see, though, in four years, the difference it makes in the voter turnout, because a lot of people are saying, 'Well, I'm just not going to vote next time, because it really didn't matter.'"

Victoria County chief administrative officer Leanne MacEachen said council is waiting for the tiebreaker before calling a first regular meeting since the election Oct. 19.

Returning officer Blair Gallop said the judicial recount is expected to be a formality, because the vote was entirely electronic, so there are no ballots to recount.

County officials considered holding the draw in one of the communities in the district, but it was deemed more important to get on with the business of government, he said.

"We want to get this done as quickly as possible," Gallop said.

"We want to make sure that the people know who's going to be representing them."

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