Oro-Medonte will do a recount of the 2022 municipal election results for Ward 6, following a request by candidate Mikhaela Beerman, who finished just a handful of votes shy of winning a seat on township council.
In what proved to be a tight race, Beerman lost to fellow Ward 6 candidate Robert Young by four votes after the ballots were counted.
The Oct. 24 election results show Young with 282 votes, Beerman with 278, and Ryan Robert Cardwell with 232 in the Ward 6 race.
In a letter to council, Beerman stated that “many municipalities across Ontario” have policies triggering a recount after two candidates are less than 10 votes apart.
“While Oro-Medonte's election bylaw and the Municipal Elections Act do not require an automatic recount, I would like (to) request a recount for the position of Ward 6 councillor, Oro-Medonte,” Beerman stated in her letter.
“I am making this request because of the lengthy wait times and delays at the polling stations in Ward 6 on election day, and because I, Mikhaela Beerman, and Ward 6 candidate, Robert Young, were four votes apart.”
Council approved the recount at their meeting Nov. 9, and the recount will take place today (Nov. 16).
As per the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, council may pass a resolution requiring a recount of cast votes, for either all candidates or specific candidates running for council.
