Northside-Westmount By-election – How Votes Cast Prior to the Close of Nominations will be Counted
Media Release: August 21, 2019
Elections Nova Scotia – Elections Nova Scotia (ENS) has outlined how they will count votes in the current Northside-Westmount by-election that were cast for Danny Laffin and the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia (PC) prior to the close of nominations on Wednesday, August 14th, and prior to the PC party revoking their endorsement of Mr. Laffin.
The Elections Act directs ENS to offer voting by the 27th day prior to election day. Voting in the current by-election in the electoral district of Northside-Westmount began at the returning office on August 7, 2019. At that time Danny Laffin was registered as the PC candidate for Northside-Westmount. Before nominations closed at 2 pm on August 14th, the PC party withdrew their endorsement of Mr. Laffin and endorsed another PC candidate, Murray Ryan. Danny Laffin now contests this by-election as an independent candidate.
Write-in ballots are used for early voting prior to the close of nominations. There were 135 write-in ballots cast in Northside-Westmount when Danny Laffin was registered as the PC candidate. The write-in ballot format provides voters the opportunity to mark the registered party they wish to vote for or to print a specific candidate’s name, or both.
The write-in ballots cast prior to the close of nominations in Northside-Westmount have been segregated and will remain sealed until they are counted after the close of polls on election night, Tuesday, September 3, 2019. At that time, ENS will count those ballots marked for Danny Laffin, the PC party or both as follows:
Contact: Naomi Shelton
Director, Policy and Communications
Elections Nova Scotia
902-424-3275 or 902-223-4871
naomi.shelton@novascotia.ca