There was little question Rob Keffer would again be voted in as mayor of Bradford West Gwillimbury on Tuesday night, as his only competitor pulled out of the race earlier this month.
Keffer won in a landslide victory with 7,283 votes, or about 90 per cent of the vote.
In total, Bradford West Gwillimbury had a voter turnout of 33.5 per cent, with 8,219 votes cast.
"It's a great feeling to have the support of Bradford West Gwillimbury. The people have realized we have a good team," Keffer said at a gathering at the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre.
He said he thought it could be a possibility the entire current council would be re-elected, "but until the results come in, you just never know."
Mayoral candidate Pat Roberge said he left the race Oct. 4 due to “bad timing” and a “family emergency.”
He was still on the ballot because he withdrew after the nomination period closed in July, but only got 829 of the votes.
"Congratulations to my opponent. We desperately need to make this town moving forward, starting by ending traffic congestion downtown, improving public transit, building more affordable housing and creating more high paid jobs," said Roberge after the results were announced.
"I realized I can also bring some change in people's life without being mayor," he added. "My next project is to make people happy and healthy. Currently planning to teach line dancing in the next year."
Keffer gathered with supporters and a number of other local municipal election candidates at the community centre to celebrate the election campaign and the official results that came in after 8 p.m.
A similar gathering was first held Monday night at Minho Restaurant in downtown Bradford, but it was pushed to Tuesday after Dominion Voting Systems hit a major slow down in about 51 municipalities, including Bradford West Gwillimbury, for which it was hired to run online voting.
The company put the blame for Monday night’s crash on a Toronto-based server hosting service it claims limited voting traffic for 90 minutes, between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Keffer, a seventh-generation dairy farmer, grew up in Bond Head and was first elected mayor in 2014. Before that, he was Bradford West Gwillimbury’s deputy mayor for four years.
During the election campaign, Keffer called “traffic movement” the top issue in town and, after winning back his title Tuesday, he said creating a transportation master plan would be his first priority in the next term.
"To find solutions to get traffic flowing through town and at the same time keeping our residents safe," he said.
Keffer has also advocated for the Highway 400-404 Connecting Link and said finding solutions for affordable housing is another top priority in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
This was the first year for online and phone voting during the Bradford West Gwillimbury municipal election, and voters could cast their ballots starting Oct. 12.
And the winners are…
Mayor: Rob Keffer (90 per cent of the vote), Pat Roberge (10 per cent)
Deputy mayor: James Leduc (85 per cent), Iftikhar Ahmad (15 per cent)
Ward 1: Raj Sandhu (61 per cent), David Wood (19 per cent), David Lontini (15 per cent), Aftab Hussain (5 per cent)
Ward 2: Gary Baynes (65 per cent), Brian Carruthers (35 per cent)
Ward 3: Gary Lamb (64 per cent), Bruce Davis (27 per cent), Marion Fischer (6 per cent), Shah Malik (2 per cent)
Ward 4: Ron Orr (41 per cent), Rick Turner (35 per cent), Carl Hordyk (24 per cent)
Ward 5: Peter Ferragine (71 per cent), Munawar Chudary (29 per cent)
Ward 6: Mark Contois (58 per cent), Lisa Hawkins (42 per cent)
Ward 7: Peter Dykie Jr. (57 per cent), Dave Minnema (43 per cent)
School board trustees
English public: Debbie Connors (55 per cent), Donna Da Silva (45 per cent)
English separate: Jeanny Salmon (acclaimed)
French public: Guy Belcourt (35 per cent), Saveria Caruso (35 per cent), Eric Lapointe (29 per cent)
French separate: Claire Thibideau (77 per cent), Ryan Malenfant (23 per cent)
