As broken on this board by Kirk Schmidt, the incumbent Trustee for Wards 11 & 12, Cathie Williams, has withdrawn from the race. Williams intends to run for the Liberal nomination in the provincial riding of Calgary Egmont.
Her name will still appear on the ballot, however a notice will be posted that she is not, in fact, running for the position. Should she still receive more votes than her only other competitor (Michael Annuik), a by-election will be held.
... an attempt to make sense of politics and political happenings in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and North America.
3 comments:
"Should she still receive more votes than her only other competitor (Michael Annuik), a by-election will be held."
The humourous part about *that* scheme is that it is possible to conceive that people will not mark the ballot, knowing that Cathie Williams is out, causing a smaller vote percentage for that "race", and causing the vote fluctuation to be more chaotic. Cathie, being a former chair, may get lots of votes, and with Annuik supporters not marking ballots since he is essentially the only candidate, the possibility definitely exists that she will "win".
So, assuming the rules were in line with being able to do it - would it be cheaper to run a by-election or to reprint ballots for Ward 11 & 12?
Of course - considerations for this are based in precedent - what happened if this happened the day before the election. the day of? And how does this affect other people who may have run knowing this information prior to the nomination deadline.
I'm just throwing questions out there... don't mind me..
My initial thought, and I know there are likely hundred year-old legal precedents that render this option void - is why don't you simply instruct the polling stations to not issue the ballots for Trustee? There is only one candidate, so he wins by acclaimation, right?
Again, I know it's not that simple... but, maybe it SHOULD be.
BEST option: No need for ballots, the race os over by acclaimation.
NEXT Best: Print new ballots.
WORST: Use the old ballots, run the risk of needing to pay for a by-election.
I think the whole issue is B.S. anyway. She had to have had eyes on the provincial liberal nomination for more than a few days (certainly, one would hope if they support the Liberals, that they would be at least that organized). So she should have done the "right" thing (pun intended) and withdrawn before the drop-deadline for the municipal election.
With either resolution (reprint of ballots or by-election) the taxpayer is on the hook for her "change of heart". Colouring it as going after the province for more school funding is just camoflage to hide her apparent democratic/fiscal disregard for the voters/taxpayers. Whomever wins the Tory nomination for Egmont should be quick to point this out.
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