City of Thunder Bay Clerk Krista Power says the results of the 2022 Municipal election are certified, with exception to the situation in the English Separate School Board Trustee race.

That situation was caused due to a name being left off the ballots in neighbouring Shuniah, prompting the Declaration of Emergency by the Clerk there, which then cascaded over to Thunder Bay and the surrounding communities. But all in all Power is pleased with how everything played out, despite a lower voter turnout.

“One of the pieces that is most important here is that while we were certainly striving to reach the 50 percent of 2018, the 42.5 percent is higher right now than the provincial average.”

Power adds she is also happy with the opportunities and access she and her team provided for voters in both the lead up to Election Day and on Election Day itself. With several options including advance voting, special polls, drive thru voting and the online voting platform. That option specifically is where 22 percent of voters had cast their ballots prior to Monday.

Had the Declaration of Emergency not occurred, Power says results would have been made available much faster. The Emergency required all 18 polls located throughout the city to, instead of processing and uploading their data separately, have all units taken to City Hall and processed there…one by one. Allowing the integrity of the election to be upheld…a duty Power takes very seriously.

“At the end of the day my responsibility is to protect the races. To protect the principals in the Municipal Elections Act which require that the votes cast are reported accurately.”

Had results from the English Separate School Board Trustee race been reported by Power, those races would have had to have been voided.

Acadia News has reached out to the Clerk for the Municipality of Shuniah for an update on the Emergency Declaration.