CHAT News File Photo

By Chris Brown

Municipal election results official

Oct 22, 2021 | 5:07 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The results of the municipal election are now official in Medicine Hat and elsewhere in the province.

In the city, there is no change to the mayor and councillor elections from the unofficial results posted on Monday night.

Linnsie Clark is mayor-elect, having received 13,151 votes to 4,659 for Ted Clugston. They are followed by Alan Rose at 1,562, Tony Leahy at 319 and Michael Starner at 126.

Ramona Robins (8,113 votes), Andy McGrogan (8,095), Allison Knodel (8,083), Robert Dumanowski (7,737), Alison Van Dyke (7,225), Cassi Hider (6,747) and Shila Sharps (5,901) and Darren Hirsch (5,283) were elected as councillors.

Voter turnout in Medicine Hat was 19,998, or 40 per cent up, from 36 per cent 2017.

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The only changes were to the school board trustee races.

Late ballots gave school board trustee candidates anywhere from two to 115 more votes but didn’t change the position anyone running placed or who was elected.

Chief returning officer Angela Cruickshank explains school board boundaries extend into Dunmore and Redcliff. The county and town count ballots by hand and so the results take a little longer to come in.

Cruickshank says the election was one of the most challenging she’s ever run due to changing COVID restrictions, recruitment of staff and extra ballots for the senate and referendum questions.

But she praised her team for how they pulled it off.

“It was a smooth as we could have given the restrictions that we were under,” Cruickshank said. “There was some impatience amongst voters to get in and vote and of course things were a bit slower because we had those long ballots too. People were taking extra time to make their votes but other than it went very smoothly.”

One of the new issues that required voter education this year was about COVID restrictions.

“There was a little bit of confusion about whether they had to show vaccination certificates and of course they did not and also about how voting stations were going to be set up to accommodate the restrictions,” she said. “So there was a little bit of voter education around that but people did appreciate the free pens.”

She thanks the 240 workers who did an excellent job and the voters for voting, being patient and taking part in the process.

Election results were also made official in Redcliff, Cypress County, Brooks and other local jurisdictions with no changes from Monday to report.