Not quite half the voters made it to the polls in last month's election
By Bill Rea

After all the campaigning and speeches and doorknocking over several weeks, the final figures for last month's municipal election, released by King Township, contained little in the way of surprises.

The election night figures released were confirmed.

In the mayor's race, 49.84 per cent of the electorate got out to vote, and incumbent Margaret Black received 52.93 per cent of those votes, to 45.69 per cent for Steve Pellegrini. Mark Healy got 1.38 per cent.

The performance of the individual mayoralty candidates in the various wards is hard to determine from the figures provided by the municipality. In several cases, voters from more than one ward went to the same place to vote, and the figures in the mayor's race were not broken down by ward. For example, voters from Wards 3, 4 and 5 attended at the Kettleby Pottageville Lions Community Hall, and the figures there indicate Black was ahead in the combined totals with 458 votes (51.46 per cent) to 425 for Pellegrini (47.75 per cent) and seven for Healy. As well, 37.55 per cent of the eligible voters at that facility actually voted in the mayor's race.

The station at Nobleton Senior Public School served voters from Wards 2 and 3, and this was a somewhat more friendly place for the incumbent, as she collected 419 of the mayoralty votes cast there (54.35 per cent) to 340 for Pellegrini (44.1 per cent) and 12 for Healy. The voter turnout figures there were 42 per cent.

At Schomberg arena, there were 959 people from Wards 3 and 4 eligible to vote there, and 42.77 per cent of them did. This was a fruitful area for Black as she garnered 676 votes, or 70.49 per cent. Pellegrini got 272 (38.36 per cent) and Healy collected 11.

As far as the other polling stations were concerned, Pellegrini, as expected, was strong in King City. In the one poll in Ward 1, which he represented on council for six years, he took 618 votes (52.64 per cent) to 543 (46.25 per cent) for Black and 13 for Healy. The turnout there was 42.26 per cent. The Ward 5 poll at King City Community Centre and Arena, which served voters living south of the 17th Sideroad, was even stronger, with Pellegrini collected 523 votes (57.22 per cent) to 370 (40.48 per cent) for Black and 21 for Healy. In percentage terms, this was Healy's strongest poll, as he took 2.3 per cent of the total. The turnout at that poll was 40.26 per cent.

In the Ward 2 poll at Nobleton Community Centre and Arena, which served everyone there except those living in the northwest quadrant of Nobleton, Pellegrini was again in front, with 406 votes (51.32 per cent) to 367 (46.4 per cent) for Black and 18 for Healy. The turnout figure there was 42.9 per cent.

The one Ward 6 poll, at Holland Marsh District Christian School, was a powerful place for Black. There was a 40.51 per cent turnout there, and Black collected 402 of the votes, good for 74.44 per cent. Pellegrini got 130 (24.07 per cent) and Healy collected eight.

None of these percentage figures factored in the votes cast at advance polls. There were 1,277 people who voted ahead of time, and there was no indication of which ward any of them were from. The advance polls were the only ones in which Healy would have made any difference, as his 11 votes kept either of the other two from getting a clear majority. Black was slightly ahead with 637 (49.88 per cent) to 629 for Pellegrini (49.26).

In the council races, Bill Cober was acclaimed in Ward 4. In the other five wards, voter turnout figures ranged from a high of 52.95 per cent in Ward 1 to a low of 42.84 in Ward 6.

It was also evident that incumbents seemed to lose some popularity between the advance polls and election day.

This was especially clear in Ward 2, where Peter Grandilli led at the advance polls 131 to 100 over Jeff Laidlaw (56.71 per cent to 43.29). But the challenger led the way at the two election day polls. The northwest section of Nobleton went Laidlaw's way 416 to 366 (53.2 to 46.8 per cent) and the rest of the ward went 240 to 222 in Laidlaw's favour (51.95 to 48.05).

People voting early in Ward 3 were solid in their support of incumbent Linda Pabst, to the tune of 138 to 29 (82.63 to 17.37 per cent). Her election day numbers dipped a bit, but nowhere near enough to put her in danger of being defeated by challenger Emil Alilovic. At poll 3-10 (Nobleton School), which took in the southwest portion of the ward, Pabst was ahead 232 to 62 (78.91 to 21.09 per cent), and she really cleaned up at Poll 3-20 (Schomberg Community and Agricultural Area), consisting of the northwest corner of the township, taking that station 159 to 62 (85.95 to 14.05). Her weakest tally was at the station in Pottageville, but she was still ahead 188 to 75 (71.48 to 28.52 per cent).

Jane Underhill's advance poll tally of 81.87 per cent (262 to 58 for challenger James Durbano) would have been tough to top election day, and she didn't. But she was still well ahead when all the votes were counted. Her strength seemed to shrink a bit to the north. The poll at the arena in King City notched her 664 votes to 233 (74.02 to 25.98 per cent), but things were a little bit closer at the other station in Pottageville, where Underhill led 101 to 44 (69.66 to 30.34 per cent).

Ward 6 produced the largest variation between the advance and election day polls, but it was also the ward that had the lowest turnout at the advance stations. Only 29 people voted ahead of time, accounting for 5.08 per cent of the total cost, and incumbent Jack Rupke drew 22 of them, good for 75.86 per cent. Clayton De Vries took the other seven. When it came to the election day poll, Rupke was still ahead, but only 295 to 247 (54.43 to 45.57 per cent).