Recount confirms Landry-Altmann is winner in Ward 12

BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

The results are almost the same after a recount of the ballots in Ward 12 Friday.

City clerk Angie Hache announced Joscelyne Landry-Altmann is officially the new councillor for the ward. There was only a one-vote difference after Friday's official recount.

She has 1,585 votes, as opposed to the 1,586 after the results came in on election night Nov. 13.

John Caruso, who asked for the recount on the grounds a computer glitch may have altered the results, has 1,528 votes, as opposed to the 1,529 he had on election night.

The other two candidates in the ward, Derek Young and Will Brunette, stand at 516 and 329 votes, respectively. These are the same result as election night.

Landry-Altmann says she's relieved the recount is over.

“It feels wonderful. I have to commend the city staff...It was an incredible procedure. It was very enriching. The procedure is very reliable. It's quite an experience to see all these votes and how they have been marked individually,” said Landry-Altmann.

At a meeting Wednesday night, council voted unanimously in favour of having a recount.

At 9:30 pm on the night of the election, Caruso was shown on the city's website to have 1,793 votes while Joscelyne Landry-Altmann had 1,756 with all of the polling stations reporting.

Less than half an hour later, the website showed Caruso had 1,529 and Landry-Altmann had 1,586.

Caruso said city clerk Angie Hache told him the day after the election the glitch was caused when a memory stick used to transfer data between computers was corrupted, thus changing some of the Ward 12 numbers.