Residents of the small B.C. community of Canal Flats will have to wait just a little bit longer to find out who their next mayor is — and it may just come down to chance.
On election day Saturday, 318 of the village’s 661 eligible voters cast a ballot — resulting in an unusual tie between Mark Doherty and Doug Mccutcheon in the race for mayor.
Under B.C.’s Local Government Act, that forces an automatic judicial recount within 13 days of the election.
And if the recount confirms the candidates are, in fact, tied?
“The name will be drawn out of a box and the winner declared right there,” explained Sylvie Hoobanoff, Canal Flats’ chief election officer.
If the mayoralty does go to a random draw, it won’t be the first time in B.C.
Just four years ago, in 2018, Peachland’s mayoral election delivered a tie between Cindy Fortin and Harry Gough, who earned 804 votes each.
Fortin became mayor after their names were put in a box and hers was randomly drawn.
Several Canal Flats voters who spoke with Global News said they’d prefer to see a re-vote. And while Mccutcheon said he’d rather win the old-fashioned way, he accepts that the rules are the rules.
“It is what it is – and we need to live with it and move on,” he said.
Doherty said he’d reserve his comments for when a winner is officially declared.