Votes for Terry Hincks will not be counted in the upcoming municipal election, the chief electoral officer said Monday.
Hincks, a longtime city councillor who was running for Ward 9, passed away Friday at the age of 64 after a long battle with cancer.
READ MORE: Long-time city councillor Terry Hincks dies after battle with cancer
Jim Nicol, the chief electoral officer, said Monday that it was too late to remove Hincks name from the ballot as the ballots have been printed.
“The ballots went to the printer on the Friday after the nominations closed,” Nicol said.
According to Saskatchewan’s Local Government Election Act, if a candidate dies before voting closes on election day, they are deemed to have withdrawn.
The votes for the deceased candidate will not count, therefore if Nicol receives the most votes the next candidate with the most votes will be elected as councillor. If no one votes for other candidates, a byelection would be called.
Since the legislation does not say voters have to be informed that Hincks has died and the votes won’t count, Nicol said he will tell officials at the polls that if someone asks if Hincks has passed away, they can confirm it.
“Outside of that, we would not be indicating anything else,” Nicol said.
Officials can’t mention that Hincks has died and therefore a voter shouldn’t vote for him. There also won’t be notifications put up at the polling stations but there will be notation on Hincks’ profile on the website.
“What happens behind the voting screen is not for us to direct or dictate,” Nicol said.
“What people do behind the voting screen and who they vote for is their business and their business alone.”
The two remaining candidates in Ward 9 are Aidan Wotherspoon and Jason Mancinelli. The municipal and school board elections on Oct. 26.
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