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GEORGINA VOTES: Hear them roar: Mayor Margaret Quirk 1 of 5 women elected to Georgina’s 7-seat council

Tight race in Ward 4 as unofficial results show Dale Kerr Genge defeating Mike Anderson by just 54 votes

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 25, 2022
Amanda Persico

There’s a mix of new and returning faces on Georgina’s newly elected council, and five of them -- 71-per-cent -- are women.

That’s a big turnaround from the 2018 municipal election, when only one woman was elected.

Mayor Margaret Quirk was re-elected for a third term with about 4,600 votes, which amounts to about 47-per-cent of votes cast.

Former regional councillor Naomi Davison is back in that role, having won about 6,600 votes, or 71-per-cent.

Former councillor Charlene Biggerstaff was also voted back in, with about 890 votes.

Incumbent councillors Dan Fellini for Ward 2 and Dave Neeson for Ward 3 were re-elected.

New faces around the council table include Dale Kerr Genge for Ward 4 and Lee Dale for Ward 5.

For the first time since the 2014 municipal election, there was a heated race for every Georgina council position -- from mayor and regional councillor to each of the town’s five wards.

"I am looking forward to the next four years and making a new council team," Quirk said of the unofficial results.

"There are two new members of council, two returning from the current council and two returning from the previous council, so it will be a great mix."

There was a heated race for Ward 4, where only 54 votes separated councillor-elect Dale

Kerr Genge and runner-up Mike Anderson.

Based on the 2021 census, there’s slightly more than 38,000 eligible voters in Georgina -- up about 4-per-cent from 2016 census numbers.

Voter turnout was about 27-per-cent -- slightly higher than the voter turnout in 2018.

About 10,000 eligible voters cast their ballots either online or in-person. Of those who voted, slightly less than half voted online.

The first order of business for the newly elected council is to determine the goals for the next four years, Quirk said.

"We will also be dealing with the 2023 budget and the challenges that the current economic conditions bring."

Here’s are the unofficial results for the newly elected Georgina council: