Conservative Marty Morantz wins by 24 votes in Charleswood riding, triggering recount
CBC News | Posted: September 24, 2021 4:34 PM | Last Updated: September 24, 2021
More than 3K mail-in ballots needed verification, delaying results
Conservative Marty Morantz has been re-elected in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley, the lone Manitoba riding left to be called days after the Monday federal election, Elections Canada says.
Morantz edged out Liberal challenger Doug Eyolfson by 24 votes. More than 44,000 total votes were cast in the western Winnipeg riding.
The pair traded the lead on election night, but Morantz maintained a slight advantage in the following days as more mail-in ballots were counted.
The final result will trigger an automatic judicial recount, which is done in races where the winning margin is less than one one-thousandth of the total votes cast in the riding, according to Elections Canada. The threshold in this case is 44 votes
Michael Kowalson, Morantz's campaign manager, said on Friday the judicial recount process is expected to last several weeks. He hopes a final result will be determined before Thanksgiving.
Special ballots sent in by voters living within the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley electoral district had to be verified after the election, which delayed the final count in the tight race.
There were 3,630 mail-in ballots returned in the riding in this year's race, Elections Canada said.
That includes 3,107 from people living in the riding and 454 from people living or travelling elsewhere in Canada.
Another 69 mail-in ballots came from people outside the country.
Morantz, a former Winnipeg city councillor, racked up a total of 17,336 votes in this election.
Eyolfson, a doctor and former MP who lost the riding to Morantz in 2019, finished with 17,312 votes.
None of Manitoba's ridings changed hands in Monday's election.
Recount process
Judicial recounts are overseen by a superior court judge of the province or territory where the process happens, Elections Canada says.
The list of who's allowed to be in the room when it happens includes the candidates and some of their representatives.
There are three ways a recount can happen, the government agency says.
The judge can add up the number of votes reported in the statements of the vote, recount the valid ballots, or recount all the ballots, including those that were rejected.
Once the recount is finished, the judge delivers a certificate that states the results.
Unless there's a tie, the returning officer writes the winner's name on the election writ and returns it to the chief electoral officer. The results are final.