Fate of Thompson's 8th council seat in hands of provincial judge after election night tie
CBC News | Posted: October 27, 2018 6:52 PM | Last Updated: October 27, 2018
2 candidates deadlocked after northern Manitoba city's election, but 1 ambiguous ballot might break the tie
The fate of Thompson, Man.'s eighth council seat may hinge on one ballot.
Wednesday's municipal election ended with a tie between candidates Chiew Chong and Andre Proulx, at 1,008 votes each.
But election official Dave Turpie said a review of the ballots during the municipal election found a single ballot with an ambiguous mark on it — a ballot Turpie says didn't seem to have a mark indicating a vote for councillor.
"We then called the candidates in today to review it and showed them the mark that was in the mayoral section of the ballot. It was not in the council portion or the trustee area," he said.
Because the two candidates objected to the idea of rejecting the ballot, the decision over what to do with it now must go before a provincial judge.
If the judge determines the ballot did, in fact, represent a vote in favour of one of the candidates, that candidate would win, Turpie explained.
If not, the city must call a byelection, and start the whole process of voting for the council seat over again.
That means other candidates could throw their hat in the ring too, Turpie said.
Voters elected Colleen Smook as Thompson's first female mayor, and re-elected councillors Judy Kolada, Duncan Wong and Kathy Valentino on Wednesday.
The northern city also elected four new councillors: Earl Colbourne, Les Ellsworth, Jeff Fountain and Brian Lundmark.