Monday’s Election Day in Edmonton saw thousands of Edmontonians casting their ballots to choose who will represent their area on City Council, but it appeared fewer people had voted later that afternoon than in the last election.

The City of Edmonton said as of 11 a.m. Monday, 140 of 189 voting stations had reported a total voter turnout of 15,758 – with the highest number of voters in Ward 8, where 2,118 votes were cast, and the lowest in Ward 12, where 821 votes were cast.

Hours later, by about 4 p.m., 176 of 189 voting stations reported a total turnout of 67,511 votes.

Officials said advance voting, which took place between October 4 and 13, saw 26,198 votes cast, an increase of 13 percent over the 2013 election. Those advance vote numbers did not include votes cast at shelters, hospitals or by mail-in ballot.

Less than an hour before the polls closed at 8 p.m., Edmonton Elections posted a tweet with an update on the numbers - saying the vote turnout was up to 136,000.

Voter turnout so far is lower than in 2013, when two thirds of polling stations reported a total of 18,170 votes had been cast – by 4 p.m. on Election Day that year, 83,477 had voted. Total voter turnout in Edmonton in 2013 was 34.5 percent.

While the polls closed at 8 p.m., officials said anyone still in line at that time would still be allowed to cast a ballot.

 

 

Incumbent candidates Knack, Esslinger, McKeen and Iveson re-elected

Unofficial results showed Andrew Knack will serve a second term as Councillor for Ward 1.

“It’s pretty humbling I didn’t expect that much support obviously I have worked hard over four years and the last months and to finish with that large of a support of vote is special,” said Knack.

He received 67.14 percent of the votes in his ward, totaling to 10,091 votes.

Incumbent Bev Esslinger has been elected to serve again in Ward 2, unofficial results showed she received 53.71 percent of the vote, totaling 7,475.

Scott McKeen will also be serving another term with 7,774 votes and 49.15 percent of the votes.

“I am going to go back with a little bit of edge this time, I am a veteran,” McKeen said.

In Ward 7, results showed Tony Caterina is also heading back to City Hall, following a close race for him with a total of 4,017, or 33.4 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Mayor Don Iveson was also re-elected for another 4 years to serve the city.  The final polling station reported back at 9:30 p.m. Monday with 72.4 percent of the vote, a total of 138,217 votes. He spoke shortly after 9 p.m.

 

 

 

Unofficial results also showed incumbents in Wards 8, 10, 11, and 12 were re-elected as well.

In Ward 8, Ben Henderson had 6,235 votes, with all 23 polling stations reporting.

Michael Walters had 11,678 votes, with all 22 stations in Ward 10 reporting – candidate Vieri Berretti came in second with 5,282 votes.

Incumbent Mike Nickel had 9,148 votes for re-election in Ward 11 with 22 stations reporting. Keren Tang trailed with 4,361 votes.

Ward 12 incumbent Moe Banga collected 6,636 votes, with all 20 voting stations reporting.

New councillors in Wards 4 and 5

Candidate Aaron Paquette won his spot against 11 councillors in Ward 4 with an unofficial 3,455 votes with 23.48 percent of the vote.

Sarah Hamilton did the same in Ward 5 with 6,156 votes and 35.04 percent of the vote, she is now the second woman on the council.

Since Councillor Michael Oshry decided to not seek re-election the race for Ward 5 was tight. There were nine candidates in total, five women, the most in any ward for this election.

Later in the evening, Sarah Hamilton gave a victory speech at her headquarters.

 

 

Tim Cartmell elected to Ward 9

Bryan Anderson has stepped aside this year after being councilor in Ward 9 for 19 years.

Unofficial results Monday evening showed Tim Cartmell in the lead with almost 9,000 votes and more than 41 percent of the votes with 17 of 19 stations reporting.

Incumbent Loken defeated by challenger in Ward 3

Late Monday evening, unofficial results determined Dave Loken had been unseated by challenger Jon Dziadyk in Ward 3.

With 18 of 19 polling stations reporting, Jon Dziadyk had 4,117 votes or more than 29 percent, and incumbent Dave Loken had 3,596 votes, or nearly 26 percent.