Peachland election tied after jammed ballot counted

PEACHLAND – A ballot that jammed in the voting machine was why Peachland Mayor Cindy Fortin was initially told she had lost her seat to challenger Harry Gough in the municipal election on Saturday.

“That would be the one that caused the tie,” Gough told iNFOnews.ca today, Oct. 23.

When it jammed, the attending election official went to re-insert the ballot, but before that could be done, the ballot landed in the sealed box. This was reported to the chief election officer who noted the event.

A verification of the vote was conducted Monday, which gave Fortin one more vote and tied the election at 804.

“The chief election officer will be applying for a Judicial Recount of the Mayor’s ballot, pursuant to the Local Government Act Sections 146 and 148, to determine the results," states a news release from chief election officer Polly Palmer.

That review has to be completed within 13 days of the Oct. 20 election – so by Nov. 2.

If there is a tie, the winner’s name will be drawn from a hat.

“I will certainly follow the process that was laid out, if it’s deemed to be a tie, which it looks like it’s going to be,” Gough said. “But I would rather the people of Peachland determine the winner in a vote.”

The Local Government Act gives municipalities the option of a draw or an election. In May, Peachland council passed an Elections Bylaw that opted for the drawing of the name by lot.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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