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f Orono Weekly Times. Wednesday, December 20,2000 - 9 for ballot recount There will be no municipally municipally ordered recount of the Ward 3 & 4 Regional councillor councillor ballots. "Win, lose or draw, I would be accepting of the outcome outcome if everything about this election is along a level playing playing field," stated Willie Woo in his address to council Monday night. Charlie Trim received 130 more votes than Willie Woo and took the Regional Ward 3 & 4 seat in the November 13 Municipal election. Woo is of the opinion the count was too close to take for granted, especially since the election numbers as provided for by the Clerk's Department cannot cannot be reconciled to his satisfaction. satisfaction. "Unless there was a fundamental breakdown of the ballot count, why can the Clerk not account for every ballot cast?" he asked at Monday's council meeting. Municipal Clerk Patti Barrie has provided Woo with figures representing the total number of ballots cast for each position, in each ward, including the spoiled and unmarked ballots for each position-Mayor, Regional Councillor. and Local Councillor. Mark Hendrikx, stated in his presentation Monday night, "All the numbers in each column should be equal, as they represent all possible ballot possibilities, and all three council positions were on a single ballot. In fact, no two numbers are alike," he stated, "this should be impossible." impossible." "I believe this is the third request for an explanation of the cause of the discrepancy that has not been answered, including a request by council itself,!' stated Hendrikx, who ran for the local Councillor Ward 14 seat in the past election, election, and was defeated by Gord Robinson. In i previous correspondence; correspondence; to Clerk Barrie, Woo indicated that the discrepancy between total ballots cast for the Mayor, across the municipality! municipality! and the total number of votes for Regional Councillor across the entire municipality was 280 less In her letter to Woo dated December 15, Barrie stated the variance between the total ballots accounted for in the Mayor's category and that of the Regional Councillor's Ward 3 & 4 was only 57 votes. Bqrrie revised some of these numbers in her Decelmber 15th correspondence correspondence to Woo, stating errors were| made by her in transcribing transcribing information from the District Returning Officers statements. The number of votes cast for Regional councillor councillor Ward 3, have increased by 4j7, and the , total votes for Regional Councillor Ward 4 has decreased by 30. "You cannot compare' information from a system known to generate incorrect numbers against another number number generated by the same system," stated Hendrikx who is a Chartered Accountant. "There is virtually a 100% chance that both numbers are wrong. Woo asked councillors to be accountable. "Accountable to the people that you represent, the residents residents of the Municipality of Clarington." In his motion to deny the request for a recount, Councillor Schell stated, "I am convinced the numbers are accurate, and a recount will never find 130 ballots. Even without doing a recount, the cost to the municipality municipality for the seven to eight days the Clerk and her support support staff have spent on research has accumulated quite a large bill, said Mayor Mutton. "We also have to be accountable to the taxpayers, who have to foot the bill," stated the Mayor. Woo has two options open to him now; an appeal to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Tony Clements, and filing a motion for a recount with the Ontario Court General Division. The last day possible to file an appeal with the courts is Thursday December 21, 2000. Woo» says he will pursue both options. HAPPY ^ HOLIDAY/ FROM THE HAFT OF AYR EN LINK/ SSASOirÿ © &ÈETÏI98 fer Bust Wishes jfob. 2001 ! < Let us take care of all your party occasions in the coming year. t We try to be the best and favorite Chinese Food Restaurant for eat-in or take-out. party* r X < v * *• RESTAURANT #»«»■■ Y CHINESE FOOD 0 * TAKE-OUT AND INORONO 905-983-9291 Bwffet Style Home your choice of dishes from our menu EAT-IN Parties must be 25 people or more CALL FOR RESERVATION Thank you for supporting us throughout the year HAVE A MlEEUR-Y CHRISTMAS & HATTY SHEW TEAR