Richmond Hill election live: Barrow gets fourth term; Di Paola, Perrelli take regional seats

Find out who won, read what winners, candidates are saying

Yorkregion.com
October 23, 2018
Kim Zarzour

Richmond Hill voters have returned Mayor Dave Barrow and all local councillors back to their seats for another term but the big news of the 2018 municipal election are the winners at the regional level.

Joe DiPaola and Carmine Perrelli – both former local councillors who were defeated in prior elections – have been voted into higher level seats this time, representing this town of nearly 200,000 as regional councillors at the Region of York.

Neither long-time regional councillors, Vito Spatafora and Brenda Hogg, the town’s two regional councillors, sought re-election.

While many neighbouring municipalities ventured into online voting this election, Richmond Hill stayed with the time-tested paper ballots and results trickled in at a steady flow throughout the night, showing Barrow had a clear lead from the start.

Unofficial results show he ended up with 23,304 votes, compared to runner-up Susan Korman with 4,756. Candidates Abu Alam earned 1,238 votes, Ali Noroozi got 770 and Mino Tari with 567.

For most of the night, results showed DiPaola and Perrelli in a close race with their competitors Carol Chan and Jason Cherniak but final numbers show DiPaola with 11,758, Perrelli with 11,418, Chan with 9,448 and Cherniak with 8,878. 

For the first time, the town livestreamed results online - with a few hiccups. The process was hosted externally in anticipation of higher-than-usual traffic, but with 800 viewers logged in at one point, service was occasionally spotty.

Results also streamed into council chambers on East Beaver Creek where a handful of viewers watched the numbers.

Sherri-Lynn McDowell, partner of Ward 4 candidate Michael D’Amelio, was there with other family members.

After a long campaign of door-knocking, eight hours a day every day and all weekend long, she said the family has grown a stronger connection with the community and a new knowledge and appreciation for their concerns.

There were no great changes in terms of voter turnout, with 32 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots at the polls, the same percentage as the 2014 election.

As the evening wound down, Barrow accepted congratulations from CAO Neil Garbe, Ward 4 winner Dave West and r Cherniak at Richmond Hill Legion.

“It’s going to be different on council this year, people with different approaches to things,” Barrow said. “But as a council we’re going to deal with it…. We’ll do well as long as we focus on the tasks at hand.”

Check out the Twitter feed below to follow along live.