DRYDEN — The voided English public school board trustee race in Dryden will likely be determined through a by-election early next year.
On election day, Dryden city clerk Allyson Euler declared an election emergency under provincial legislation after it was determined that some electors would have been able to cast multiple ballots.
That resulted in 380 votes from Dryden residents who also own property outside the municipality to be voided, and stop that process. The problem was caused by the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board sending out mail-in ballots to those residents.
“In order to allow time to create an updated voters list and schedule a by-election, the company will be supplying us with the voter’s list as advised that they should be able to accommodate a by-election by early February,” Euler told Dryden city council during an update at their Monday meeting.
That by-election would be conducted through telephone and internet voting, she added.
“This will allow electors who are away for the winter on vacation or in school to participate in the by-election. It will also allow electors to vote in case there is a major snow storm or it’s 40 below on voting day and it will allow anyone who is sick to vote as well,” said Euler.
Euler said the financial impact on the city is more than $15,000, plus staff time.
“Which is about twice the cost of a traditional election but is substantially more accessible,” Euler said.
According to the staff report, the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board sent out a letter on Oct. 6 to those 380 residents, advising them not to vote for the English Public School Board Trustee position in Dryden.
“Which leads one to believe they knew about this at least a day or two in advance of that, but why we were not made aware of it, I have not been advised and as noted in the report I first knew about this on Oct. 20 when members of the public brought it to my attention,” said Euler.
Coun. Norm Bush asks Euler if the school board was aware that the ballots were mailed by mistake on Oct. 6, why city staff weren't made aware of the problem until two weeks later.
“This was a pretty big snafu in my perspective,” Bush said.
Euler said she was told the mishap was caused by “human error.”
“Had we known two weeks earlier there might of things we could have done at this end to stop something from happening,” she said.
The next term of council will vote on whether to finalize going ahead with the by-election at a meeting next month.
