Mail-in ballots for Windsor-Tecumseh’s meager federal election contest were still being counted Tuesday. According to Elections Canada, the final result may not be available until Wednesday.
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Irek Kusmierczyk knew that the race for the federal seat in Windsor-Tecumseh was going to be close, but was he ready for it to be very fine?
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“We hoped that the result would be very close,” said the incumbent liberal deputy. “That is why we had people in all the polling stations, counting the ballots and scrutinizing.”
When polls returned Monday night, Kusmierczyk fell behind early, with NDP candidate Cheryl Hardcastle taking the lead.
But the gap never exceeded two or three percent of the vote. After midnight, with only a handful of polls to report, Kusmierczyk stepped forward.
On Tuesday morning, preliminary results stood at 17,421 votes (31.6 percent) for Kusmierczyk, 16,920 votes (30.7 percent) for Hardcastle.
A survey remains to be reported before a Windsor-Tecumseh winner can be declared: Mail Ballots.
As of press time, those mail-in ballots were still being counted. According to Elections Canada, the tellers began verification checks on the ballots on Tuesday morning, a process that could take up to 24 hours.
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“Some constituencies may not begin reporting local special ballot results until Wednesday,” Elections Canada stated.
The 501-vote difference between Kusmierczyk and Hardcastle on Tuesday morning was even tighter than their competition in 2019, when Kusmierczyk won the Hardcastle seat by a slim margin of 629 votes.
Kusmierczyk described himself as “grateful beyond words and very proud” of his team for their determination throughout the season.
“We knew from day one of taking office that it would take teamwork to have a positive impact here in the community,” Kusmierczyk said.
“It will always be necessary to work as a team. We have really focused on creating partnerships, bringing people together. That is absolutely critical for us to be able to invest and get good policy here. “
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A judicial recount is initiated if the contest of an electoral district has been decided by a difference of less than one thousandth of the total votes cast.
As of Tuesday morning, Windsor-Tecumseh had a voter turnout of 55,186, meaning the tally’s trigger margin is less than 55.
Any voter, including a candidate, may also request a judge to conduct a judicial recount, provided that the request is made within four days of the results being validated, and the request includes an affidavit indicating the error that requires counting.
Hardcastle could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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Other parties had a variety of fortunes in Windsor-Tecumseh in this election.
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Conservative candidate Kathy Borrelli finished the night with 14,206 votes (25.7 percent), a slight decrease in support for the Conservatives in the race compared to 2019, when the CCP had 15,851 votes (27.8 percent).
On Tuesday, Borrelli thanked all of his volunteers, donors and voters on social media. “I am sincerely honored by your support,” she wrote. “Our leadership is representative of what makes our nation great. We are hard-working, hard-working, proud, multicultural and innovative ”.
Windsor-Tecumseh has never elected a Conservative MP.
The Green Party, represented by Henry Oulevey, had its worst performance at Windsor-Tecumseh in decades, with just 663 votes (1.2 percent). The last time the Greens got less than 1,000 votes in horsemanship was in the year 2000.
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Meanwhile, the far-right People’s Party of Canada, with its new platform of opposition to vaccine mandates, experienced a significant boost in its presence in Windsor-Tecumseh: at the end of Monday night, PPC candidate Victor Green, had 5,814 votes (10.5 percent) – up from 1,279 PPC votes (2.2 percent) in the competition in 2019.
The 44th general election was only the second time the PPC has participated in a federal vote.
Marxist-Leninist candidate Laura Chesnik, who has run in nearly every federal election in Windsor-Tecumseh since 2004, remained a marginal factor with 162 votes.
According to Elections Canada, voter turnout in Windsor-Tecumseh was around 58 percent, the same as in 2019.
The riding has a population of 117,429 people with 94,424 eligible voters.
Reference-windsorstar.com