Thornhill race not over yet

YorkRegion.com
June 19, 2014
By Simone Joseph

It’s official.

Sandra Yeung Racco filed an application yesterday, seeking a recount of the last Thursday’s provincial election results for Thornhill.

In a span of about 24 hours, Yeung Racco was declared the winner by 85 votes, only to have the results overturned by Elections Ontario, due to a tabulation error, handing the riding to PC candidate Gila Martow by the same 85-vote margin.

It is not yet known when the Newmarket court will hear the application. After a judge hears the application, the recount must be held within 10 days, according to the Elections Act.

An application for a judicial recount automatically occurs when a race is closer than 25 votes. However, Elections Ontario also states a judicial recount can be requested by a candidate, or an elector, if the results are close.

In a statement released June 14, Yeung Racco explained she planned to request a recount.

“It was obviously a disappointment to learn that Elections Ontario has reversed the result reported on election night,” she said. “Moreover, we are alarmed at the number of what Elections Ontario deemed to be ‘transposition and minor clerical errors’ that led to this decision. When the results are as close as they were, it is imperative to ensure that every vote was counted properly.”

Martow has started fundraising in case she has to present her case in court, she said.

“I am not nervous. I sound agitated,” she said. “I was told to fundraise $10,000 to $15,000, which isn’t fun. I thought I was done with all of that,” she said.

Yeung Racco’s husband, Mario Racco, himself a former Liberal Thornhill MPP, doesn’t agree a recount would cost this much.

“I don’t know what the cost is. I don’t believe there will be a cost, except court costs for the judge to be there and for the room,” Racco said.

The cost of the recount, including the costs of the returning officer and the election clerk, are at the discretion of the judge, who may order the cost paid by whom, to whom, and in what manner it will be paid. If the judge makes no provision as to costs, the costs of the returning officer and election clerk are paid by the province, according to the Elections Act.

Martow is clearly against a recount.

“I want to be treated fairly. I don’t see how it serves the residents of Thornhill to drag this out. I have to delay my swearing in. Why should I spend time and money on this (recount case) rather than doing work?”