Tie in mayor’s race in Peachland, B.C., could end in a name drawn at random

PEACHLAND, B.C. – There is intrigue in the mayor’s race in the small town of Peachland, B.C., where a verification process from Saturday’s vote revealed a tie of 804 votes for each of two contestants.

Harry Gough was declared the winner by just one vote over Cindy Fortin on Saturday night, but an election official had reported that one ballot was not properly fed when a voting machine jammed.

Polly Palmer, the district’s chief election officer, says in a statement that a verification of the ballots on Monday revealed a tie between Gough and Fortin.

Palmer says she will be applying for a judicial recount of the mayor’s ballots.

If the tie is confirmed, Palmer says the winner must be determined by a provincial court judge drawing a lot, essentially pulling one of the two names at random.

Gough says that it sounds like a crazy way to settle the matter if it’s a tie and suggested that he and Fortin should have a runoff election instead.

–With a file from Ron Seymour, Kelowna Daily Courier.