Fraser Valley – There are two notable recounts after the October 20 Municipal Elections. Well over 27,000 ballots were reviewed.
The first was with the FVRD Fraser Valley Regional District.
In Electoral Area C, after a tie, Wendy Bales defeats Justice Hamilton. The two were tied and the tie was broken by drawing a name by lot.
The second was for the final seat for Chilliwack School District which had to stop Thursday night and reconvene on Friday at Evergreen Hall. Trustee-elect Willow Reischelt posted to Facebook on Thursday evening: Recount stopped at 10:00 p.m. this evening and will resume at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. Approximately 1/3 of ballots have been recounted. So far, it is looking like results will be virtually identical to those reported on election night.
Jared Mumford (Pro-SOGI) led Kaethe Jones (Anti-SOGI) by 34 votes and Jones asked for a recount.
On Friday evening, the recount was over and the change was just one vote. Mumford defeats Jones by 33 votes.
Trustee Re-Elect Dan Coulter posted to Facebook: I want to congratulate Jared Mumford on his win. The last few days must have been very stressful but now you can relax.
In my opinion, we had this recount because people didn’t understand that there are machines that can count just like people can. Actually, they count better than people. These new-fangled and magical machines confused Barry Neufeld’s scrutineers and confounded Ms. Jones lawyer. I never heard someone say “we just don’t know” so many times. Well, we do know! Voting machines work and we went through a very painful and expensive exercise to prove it.
Just because you are confused by technology shouldn’t be a reason for a recount.
We also know that sworn election officers are trustworthy. I could not tell you how disgusted I was when their lawyer suggested that the election officers in the room could not be trusted.
I’m hoping that they can accept the results and move on. We need to get back to focusing on students.
I would like to thank Rachel, the best damn election lawyer I’ve ever seen. We really needed you.
I would also like to thank Willow Reichelt, David Swankey, Michael W Prill, Meghan Martel Reid, Constance Carrière-Prill, Rebecca Coulter, DJ Pohl and Jared‘s girlfriend Willow for being Rachel’s eyes and ears at the machines. Even though the results didn’t personally affect us we all realized what it meant for Chilliwack.
Who would’ve thought a lil old school trustee election would have to be so complicated?
Trustee-elect Willow Reichelt, who ran a strong Pro-SOGI campaign posted to Facebook: I am happy to report that, as expected, the results of the recount are virtually unchanged from what was reported on election night. Jared Mumford remains elected (only one vote different than originally reported), and we have a majority progressive school board that will protect all children, parents and staff from discrimination. I am less happy to report that the cost of the recount will be covered by the Chilliwack School District and will be greater than $50,000.
Trustee-elect David Swankey (Pro-SOGI) on Facebook: There will be more share tomorrow. For this evening, my congratulations to fellow trustee-elect Jared Mumford. It’s great to see this process concluded and to enjoy a our brightly lit downtown with friends!
Former Chilliwack School Board Chair Paul McManus posted to Twitter: Time to move forward folks. Let’s focus on improving student outcomes and what’s happening in our classrooms. #sd33learns
