Martow ‘glad for mandate to continue’ role as Thornhill MPP
Yeung Racco to concentrate on councillor job; not sure about fall election

YorkRegion.com
June 24, 2014
Simone Joseph

PC candidate Gila Martow and Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco expressed a mixture of emotions following today’s Thornhill riding recount results.

“I am glad I have been given a mandate to continue. I have been enjoying my new job,” MPP-elect Gila Martow said.

In this morning’s recount held in a Newmarket court, Martow won by more votes than she did in the official election June 12 — earning 106 votes more than rival Yeung Racco.

On election night, the unofficial results showed Yeung Racco had won the riding by 85 votes.

However, Elections Ontario later announced that an election night mistake had occurred, saying Martow was the true winner and blaming the mistake on a data transposition error.

Yeung Racco then requested a judicial recount, saying the Ontario Liberals were “alarmed” by the number of “transposition and minor clerical errors”.

Following the announcement of today’s recount results, Yeung Racco issued a statement.

“Naturally I am disappointed at the outcome of the judicial recount, but at the same time I am relieved that there is no longer any doubt about the results from the June 12 election,” she said in her statement.

“I believe the recount was necessary to provide clarity to all voters in Thornhill. In a riding that was decided by so small a margin, it was important to ensure that every vote was properly counted.”

Yeung Racco went on to say in her release there are lessons to be learned from her experience.

“I hope Elections Ontario will use the Thornhill experience to improve its own procedures,” she stated. “I understand that mistakes are inevitable in the hectic environment of ballot counting and reporting on election night. But every effort must be made to prevent a repeat of our situation, to spare other candidates the emotional upheaval of election results being reversed.”

She plans to focus on her work as a councillor in Vaughan, and noted “as for the municipal election, I will speak to my family, friends and colleagues and whether to seek a fourth term and make a decision later this year”.

A spokesperson for her campaign said she will not be available to do interviews for the next few days.

Martow is not expecting Yeung Racco to appeal the recount.

“People will be agitated and upset if there is an appeal,” Martow said.