The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
December 02, 2008
THE SYSTEM IS A-OKAY!
I had an unusual experience last week.
I attended a judicial recount of the ballots cast for the November 15 municipal election.
I've sat in on ballot counts in the past, often as an observer as part of my media job, but I've never been able to watch the system in action when it's been called on for verification under the watchful eye of a Provincial Court Judge.
The recount was requested by Dina Slowikowski-Campbell who had missed being elected to Town Council by two votes. Possibly the closest margin in the whole province.
I missed the count on election night due to a previous commitment and was unable to fulfill my duty as a Scrutineer for one of the candidates, so the recount got my attention and interested me in many ways.
I had heard many stories (read that as rumours) about how the count was conducted on election night, and although I was not present, I tried hard to squelch the rumours coming into my office by stating the Elections Act has some pretty strict guidelines that have to be adhered to in relation to such matters - so I wanted to be sure I was correct.
Secondly, my selfish reason for being there: I had feared a lot of 'plunkers' (ballots marked for one, two or three candidates rather than the maximum of four). I was curious and needed to know if this election was a true reflection of the voting public, or an election with results coming out of protest.
Well, the recount went pretty smooth. Judge Sinclair allowed me to view every single ballot. Chief Election Officer Patrick Robins allowed me to view the forms filled out on election night during the original count.
The numbers matched exactly during the recount, although Judge Sinclair did rule that one
'rejected' ballot was acceptable earning both candidates an extra vote each. The two vote margin remained and Marilyn Harkness was declared elected and Dina Slowikowski-Campbell saw the same thing I did, all the checks and balances that were in place proved that the system worked.
That answered one of my questions.
As for the plunkers...well, with a 53.95% voter turn out in this election, I got to see a lot of ballots. Very few contained less than four x's or check marks or whatever marking which considered the ballot properly cast.
I didn't expect that. I really thought there would be a pile of single vote or double vote ballots and there weren't, which tells me the results of the election are a very clear indication of what the majority of local voters wanted.
And I think they picked a pretty solid team of residents to push our community forward in the next three years.
