CAROLYN GRANT
A jubilant Don McCormick accepted congratulations from supporters at the Kimberley Elks Club Saturday night as the news came in at just before 9 p.m. that he was the newly elected Mayor of Kimberley.
Elected or re-elected to City Council (in order of votes) are Sandra Roberts, Kent Goodwin, Darryl Oakley, Albert Hoglund, Nigel Kitto and Bev Middlebrook.
"It was a hard day," McCormick said. "It was probably the most anxious day I have spent in a long, long time.
"It's a relief. It's very emotional. I feel really, really good for my team. They worked so hard."
McCormick says he felt he had support from across the community, not any particular groups.
"I feel grateful."
McCormick says he believes the new Council will be a strong group.
"We are going to have a great Council. I am really, really looking forward to working with them. There's so much to do, I feel like we need to start Monday morning."
Preliminary numbers are as follows:
Don McCormick,1301; Ron McRae, 1142; Doug Johnson, 181
Councillors:
Sandra Roberts, 1898; Kent Goodwin, 1853; Darryl Oakley, 1817; Albert Hoglund,1601; Nigel Kitto, 1492; and Bev Middlebrook,1447.
Those six are elected.
Darren Close had 1407 votes and Brent Bush, 1340.
This was the first time the City of Kimberley made use of automated voting machines and the count went quickly and without a hitch on Saturday evening. Instead of waiting until midnight for hand-counting as in previous years, results were tabulated before 9 p.m.
Chief Election Officer and Corporate Officer for the City of Kimberley, Kelly Harms, said, "We are pleased to see that the community embraced automated voting."
One of the advantages of the automated machines was the ability to catch spoiled ballots immediately. If someone, for example, voted for seven Councillors instead of six, the machine picks it up as soon as the ballot is entered. This allows the voter the chance to vote again.
Voter turnout was in the 50 per cent range, which is high for municipal elections, although Kimberley is usually above the average. Of the 5,358 of eligible electors, 49 per cent participated in the election. The average municipal voter turn-out in the province is approximately 33 per cent.
Of the total number of ballots cast (2365) there were 23 Non-Resident Property Electors and 165 new registered voters that cast ballots in the 2014 Kimberley municipal election.
"We are satisfied with the voter turnout this year," said Harms.