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Vanthuyne, Cochrane-Johnson wins confirmed after recount
Elections NWT to write recount guide to make process clear in future

Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 2, 2015

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Caroline Cochrane-Johnson watched in a courtroom Monday as her electoral margin of victory over Daryl Dolynny in Range Lake was sliced in half.

NNSL photo/graphic

Boxes of ballots are unloaded from a truck outside the Yellowknife courthouse in preparation for judicial recounts of three electoral districts Monday and Tuesday. - photo courtesy of Elections NWT

The vote count changed from the original totals of 335 to 325 that Elections NWT reported following the Nov. 23 territorial election to 333 for Cochrane-Johnson to 328 for Dolynny.

The changes came from allowing previously rejected ballots, a vote wrongly counted and removing an ineligible vote.

The recount, overseen by NWT Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mahar, was held because the Elections and Plebiscites Act requires results so close to be automatically rechecked.

"It's really stressful when there's a recount and you don't know," said Cochrane-Johnson outside the courtroom Monday evening. "But I really trusted in the process and the process came through."

In a Facebook post after the recount, Dolynny conceded defeat and wrote that the past few days were difficult for him and his family.

"It's been a tremendous honour serving at the NWT legislative assembly and I leave with no regrets," Dolynny wrote. He wasn't in court for the recount, but his lawyer Caroline Wawzonek was there. She said Dolynny wanted to ensure all votes were properly counted.

"I think we're satisfied," Wawzonek said.

Asked about the ballots initially rejected but counted upon recount, she said it points to a need for voters to understand how to cast a vote.

"I think people should pay attention to this and understand the importance of casting a ballot in an election," she said.

Dan Wong was there Tuesday to watch his 16-vote loss to Cory Vanthuyne in Yellowknife North confirmed. There were 392 votes for Vanthuyne, 376 for Wong, 189 for Ben Nind, 127 for Edwin Castillo and 12 for Sean Erasmus. Wong and Nind were the only candidates observing as those results were rechecked.

Wong said he's thankful for those who came out to vote and said he wasn't surprised by the recount results.

"We had scrutineers at the polling sites and everything that we observed was that Elections NWT was very competent and very capable in running an election properly," he said.

When Yellowknifer asked Wong if he'd consider running in the future, he said he wouldn't rule it out. Wong added he'd take the next few weeks to consider how he can pursue some of the ideas generated on the election trail - including downtown improvement and clean or affordable renewable energy - without actually being elected.

Vanthuyne said he was happy to see the vote count didn't change at all. "Certainly I'm feeling very relieved."

There were two recounts Monday by Mahar and one Tuesday by Justice Shannon Smallwood. The first on Monday, for Nunakput, was an hour late getting underway. That count was slow at first as lawyers, the judge and other election officials figured out the recount process.

Nicole Latour, the chief electoral officer, said Tuesday she intends to write a guide that will lay out exactly how the recounts were done which would be available after future elections.

The audience for recounts was limited to candidates, representatives of candidates, a few lawyers, Latour and two reporters. Reporters were subject to a publication ban limiting disclosure of the results until first put out by Elections NWT. As media outlets had to agree before the recounts began, another outlet was denied entry to the courtroom when the reporter arrived after counting was underway.

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