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Recount C O M M U N I T Y
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Friday, May 17, 2013
With a vote margin of only 52 votes separating the NDP’s Gary Holman and the Liberals’ Stephen Roberts, Elections B.C. will count the votes again
Steven Heywood News staff
Gary Holman said he was nervous Tuesday night and he looked it. The NDP candidate in Saanich North and the Islands was watching the election count come in from his campaign scrutineers at his campaign office in Sidney and the race was close — too close for a man who admitted it was drawing out his pessimistic tendencies. With arms crossed and a bit of a forced smile, Holman said the 40th provincial election, for him, was going to be rough. The atmosphere over at Stephen Roberts’ B.C. Liberal campaign headquarters, also in Sidney, was at times jubilant, followed by stunned silence. Back and forth it went as the results came in — with each polling station changing the leaderboard but only by the narrowest of margins. When the last polling station finally reported in, Holman was clinging to a 52-vote lead and only cautiously accepting the news that he had been declared the winner. “I won’t believe I’m elected until Elections B.C. confirms it,” he said in a call with the News Review Tuesday night. Holman said there is still the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots to come — that and the final tally which won’t happen until May 27 by Elections B.C. First, however, Elections B.C. will conduct a recount. Since the race was decided by under 100 votes, there is an automatic recount by the district electoral officer. Don Main, Elections B.C. communication manager, says a recount can happen when the vote spead between the top two candidates is under 100, or if it’s
Steven Heywood/News staff
B.C. Liberal candidate for Saanich North and the Islands, Stephen Roberts, and his supporters applaud some of the early returns on election night in B.C. His fortunes would rise and fall with almost every polling station update.
The Count
Inside
According to Elections B.C. preliminary data, here’s how the race ended Tuesday night:
• Liberals retain a majority province-wide in a shocking electoral turnaround Page 3
NDP candidate Gary Holman: 9,681 B.C. Liberal candidate Stephen Roberts: 9,629 Green Party candidate Adam Olsen: 9,294 votes Independent candidate Scott McEachern: 567
• The Green Party makes history in B.C. wth the election of an MLA in Oak Bay-Gordon Head Page 3
requested by a candidate. Yet to be counted, he said, are absentee and mail-in votes, as well as ballots cast at the district electoral office between when the election was called and 8 p.m. on May 14. Should the final tally after May
Investment Advisor
Standing room only at council chambers to debate merits of allowing small residential lots, page 2
The B.C. Liberal Party has held onto a majority government in the province’s 40th election, page 3
Black Press
SUSAN DAFOE
27 result in a vote differential that is one-five hundredth of the total votes cast in Saanich North and the Islands, Main said there would be a judicial recount. Roberts, as a result, still has his hopes up. He spent much of the
evening watching the results pour in and monitoring tweets and posts on his phone. “There was that strange last polling station that took a lot of time to report,” Roberts said Wednesday morning. “The mail-
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ins and absentee votes are still out there as well. “We’re not quite done.” Adam Olsen of the Green Party, meanwhile, looked to play the spoiler all night and at the end of the evening, was only around 300 votes off the leaders in Saanich North and the Islands. With additional votes expected to be counted on May 27, even he cannot be counted out at this stage. “Realistically, even though it is a close finish here, the eventual result depends on the remaining ballots,” he said. “Having said that, I haven’t conceded yet.” Olsen said what the result in this riding means is that people cannot ever say that their vote does not count. “We turn out to vote like few others in this province,” Olsen said of Saanich North and the Islands, which had a 64.8 per cent voter turnout — exceeding the provincial avarage of 52 per cent. Olsen added he’s not unhappy with his third place finish at this stage, saying his strong campaign here helped bolster the fortunes of the Greens on the Island. Andrew Weaver was elected B.C.’s frst Green MLA in Oak Bay-Gordon Head. “We broke through,” Olsen said. “Andrew is a tremendous candidate. It helped, having a couple of strong campaigns around him.” As for his leader, Jane Sterk, her future at the head of the Green Party is up to her, Olsen said. He credited Sterk for putting the party in a position to have the second candidate win in a first-pastthe-post election in this country. PLEASE SEE: Candidates credit each, page 3
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