Earlier this month, Mattawa’s council asked the municipal clerk to recount all cast ballots from the October 24th municipal election, as some results were so close, councillors wanted to make sure the count was accurate.
On November 8th, the recount was held at the municipal office with the results posted on November 24th. A total of 717 ballots were cast from the eligible voting pool of 1,555, which is a 46 per cent turnout.
See: Mattawa recounting election ballots
The results of the recount were the same as the original tally. The clerk did not bother recounting the mayoral votes, as the margin was so wide council deemed it unnecessary. Raymond Belanger took the mayor’s chair with more than 400 votes over Marie Goyette.
Mathew Gardiner received 440 votes, Dexture Sarrazin had 398, and Fern Levesque earned 341. Loren Mick topped out at 327, Laura Ross had 323, and Garry Thibert received 315 votes. All will be serving as councillors for the 2022-2026 term.
The new mayor and council will have their inaugural meeting on December 5th.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
