While not all invoicing is yet in for the 2018 General Local Election, held Oct. 20, it is sure to cost the District of Squamish more than the $55,000 budgeted, according to a report prepared for Tuesday’s council meeting by chief election officer Robin Arthurs.
District staff is recommending an additional $10,000 and more District staff resources be budgeted for the next muni election in 2022.
The extra costs this time around were, in part, because an additional 2,000 voters had registered compared to in 2014. This meant a bigger venue and more staff – double 2014. The District also needed another three tabulating machines. The cost for ballots also increased.
The official results for the election were declared on Oct. 24,
Only two ballots separated the sixth-place winner, Chris Pettingill, and seventh-placed Sacha Fabry.
An “informal recount” was requested by Fabry. According to the report, this recount must have also increased costs.
“All ballots were re-fed through the machines at which they were originally cast, and the results remained the same,” the report reads.
For those interested in the minutia of municipal elections, the District rented 10 automated vote tabulators for this election from Toronto-headquartered Dominion Voting Systems – nine were used; one was a spare. The contract is also for the 2022 election. The deal includes the option of using the machines in a referendum, if need be, during this council term.
[If you really want to go down the election nerd rabbit hole, check out the company’s website, www.dominionvoting.com, for lots of ‘interesting’ information on election voting machines and such.]
Voter turnout for this election in Squamish was 47.8 per cent, up a bit from 47.1 per cent in 2014.
The highest municipal voter turnout in recent memory was in the 2002 election – that brought in Ian Sutherland as mayor – with 62.2 per cent of registered voters making the effort.
This time around, Squamish had 14,111 total registered voters going into the election. Another 584 voters registered at the polling station.
There were 53 spoiled ballots, down from 84 in 2014.
Fifty-nine voters participated in special voting opportunities, meaning they voted at Hilltop House, Squamish General Hospital or Shannon Falls Retirement Residence.
The report notes that while this number is low, without the special voting opportunities, some of the patients, employees or residents may not have been able to cast a ballot at all.
Thirty voters mailed in their ballots.
Advanced voting saw 2,148 voters turn out – almost double the number from our last municipal election.As legislated by the Local Government Act, the next municipal election is slated for Saturday, Oct. 16, 2022.
