Turnout up from 2017, nearly 20K votes for mayor
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 20, 2021.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews Turnout in Medicine Hat’s municipal election is officially 40% better than last time, but not quite a recent record, according to the city’s chief returning officer. That also makes it the highest voter turnout in a local election in at least 15 years. Unofficial results show that 19,797 votes were cast for mayor on Monday night, about 3,000 more than in 2017, but shy of the all-time record of 20,109 in the 2013 race. Results will be made official on Oct. 22 at noon by the chief returning officer. An organization meeting and swearing in ceremony goes Nov. 1. On Monday, Linnsie Clark secured 13,151 votes, or 66.4% of the vote, with all stations and advance votes reported. Incumbent Ted Clugston was second with 4,639, or 23.4%, and the remainder were divided among Alan Rose (8%), Tony Leahy (319 votes) and Michael Starner (126 votes). The large field for council also affected the spread and distribution in the council race. This week’s top polling council candidate was Ramona Robins with 8,113 votes, compared to the 2017 highest total of 8,356 secured by Robert Dumanowski. The recent eighth-place cutoff line for winning candidates was the 5,283 for Darren Hirsch, who enjoyed a near 900 vote lead over the ninth-place candidate, incumbent Brian Varga. In 2017, the eighth-place spot was won by Jamie McIntosh, with 6,083 votes, edging out No. 9 Bill Cocks by 86 votes. The cumulative number of votes case for all 32 candidates was 112,738, meaning that if all those who cast a ballot for mayor also voted in the council races, the average voter selected only 5.5 candidates out of a possible eight. 13-12
