It was a nerve wracking day for two City Councillor hopefuls for Ward 5 at City Hall on Tuesday.

Votes from the Municipal Election, which took place last Monday, Oct. 22nd, were recounted for Ward 5 to ensure one candidate had indeed won by just two votes.

Andrew Marks was listed as the winner of the fourth Ward 5 City Councillor spot on Election Night, with 2,637 votes. Coming in just after Marks was Cory Robin, who lost the spot to Marks by just two votes. Robin secured 2.635 votes on election night, making the race too close to call for the last week.

The recount officially took place yesterday at City Hall in Council Chambers. Overseen by Steph Palmateer, City Clerk, and city employees, all the ballots for Ward 5 were recounted, one by one.

By using the tabulation machines, the ballots were re-scanned over the course of about seven hours.

And the results were the same. Andrew Marks will return to City Council representing Ward 5, along with Kristin Murray, Michelle Boileau and Noella Rinaldo.

Marks says this is the first recount he’s aware of taking place in Timmins.

“This is the very first recount I’ve ever been aware of to take place in the time I’ve been involved with Municipal politics,” said Marks, “and that starts in the year 2000.”

Marks said the process was fair and that he learned a lot.

“[It was] very fair, transparent,” Marks said, “I learned a lot. I learned a lot about the electronic voting. I learned a lot about counter measures and checks and balances that are in place. It was laid out very evenly by the clerk this morning, about the remote ballots taking place, the electronic ballots taking place.”

Marks said he and Cory Robin got a chance to review every single ballot and go through them individually.

“And there were no discrepancies that could be found,” said Marks.

Marks said he’s been a little nervous leading up to the recount.

“It’s been eight days of a little bit of trepidation,” said Marks, “since the actual election took place. Certainly this morning there was a little bit of nerves because I’ve said you never take anything for granted in any election. And I didn’t know how this process would go. Something could have changed.”

When asked how he felt after the recount was finished, Marks shared his relief.

“I’m glad it’s done. I’m glad the recount’s over. I’m glad that I’ve been re-elected for Ward 5 to represent the residents of Ward 5.”

 

–With files from Timmins Today

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