Recount wrinkle
Posted Dec 15, 2010 05:03:22 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A day before Ontario’s Superior Court is to hear arguments for a manual recount of the ballots cast in Kitchener’s Ward 9, the city has tossed a curveball.
According to clerk Randy Gosse, runner-up Debbie Chapman forfeited her right to a manual recount by failing to dispute any ballots during an electronic recount at City Hall last month.
There is also concern that, by allowing this recount to move forward, the province could be setting a precedent that forces courts to try and determine voter intent in any recount request.
Chapman was taken aback by the news.
“I never expected such resistance to such a simple process,” Chapman states. “What I did anticipate was that the City would have consented to the manual recount and we would have been finished by now. There was time prior to the swearing in for that to have happened and it obviously hasn’t. It’s unfortunate that things have gone this route but it will be interesting to see how a judge views it on Thursday.”
In the meantime, Ward 9 winner (for now) Frank Etherington continues to go about the business of being a new city councillor. He was sworn in during an official inauguration last Monday and has been assigned to several committees.
“I’m fed up with living in this type of limbo where I’m doing the job but still walking around with this recount cloud hanging over my head,” Etherington said in an interview with 570 News.
Etherington says he’s also concerned about the money this is costing taxpayers, adding that he’s constantly being approached by Ward 9 residents who are wondering if the matter has been settled.
Chapman’s application for the manual recount is expected to be heard in Superior Court tomorrow.
