Today, Oct. 23, HRM's returning officer announced that official results have declared Bill Karsten, and not Jackie Barkhouse, the winner for the seat of HRM council District 3 Dartmouth South- Eastern Passage.
Following the Oct. 20 count, Barkhouse was declared the winner by six votes. Karsten requested a recount.
In the end, Karsten actually won by 68 votes with 3,321 votes. Barkhouse had 3,253 and candidate Jim MacDonald finished with 1,451 votes.
Returning officer Cathy Mellett said a discrepancy was discovered in the results called in on Saturday evening from one poll in District 3.
Mellett told CBC there was a mistake, and one poll called in its results twice.
"One table called in a combined report from all three tables," she said. "And then each individual table in addition."
The official review of the poll results was conducted this morning at 10 a.m. Both Karsten and Barkhouse were on hand for the review. Mellett says she expects a request for a judicial recount.
“The stringent requirements of the Elections Act are in place to ensure that the will of the voters is carried out and that, upon official review of all poll books, the official results are correct and reliable," Mellett said.
Official results for all races and district have been posted and are available at http://www.halifax.ca/election/results/
