Ward 10 challenger Fern Cormier, who came in second to incumbent Frances Caldarelli by five votes in the October municipal elections, has withdrawn his application for a recount, calling the process a "pointless exercise."
In a letter sent to the city, Cormier said after meeting with the city's chief returning officer, Angie Haché, on Nov. 9, he has decided to withdraw his request as the process is "not objective."
"I have come to the conclusion that given that there would be no opportunity to inspect, review or challenge any of the ballots cast in the recount process, it ... is not an objective recount process and would be a waste of my time, city staff resources and tax-payer's money."
In an interview, Cormier expressed concern over under-votes, which are ballots rejected by the machine. They are rejected as they are not marked in the proper areas.
"Someone may have circled a name rather than marking in the arrow," Cormier said. He said he wanted the ballots examined to ensure those votes were counted.
In a recount, ballots are run through the tabulating machine by city staff in the same manner as during the elections. They are not looked at by city staff, and rejected ballots are not examined.
Though he is not happy with the recount process, Cormier said he has no problem with the election process itself, nor does he believe there is any reason to doubt the results were fair.
If he wanted to challenge the city's interpretation of the municipal elections act, he would have to go through the recount, then would have 30 days to challenge the results in court, a process that would take up a lot of time and money on his and the city's part, Cormier said.
