Recount confirms PC victory in Glace Bay-Dominion riding

A judicial recount in the riding of Glace Bay-Dominion has not changed the outcome of Nova Scotia's 41st provincial election, but the Progressive Conservative candidate's winning margin has been reduced.

John White was jubilant on Aug. 17 when he defeated Liberal John John McCarthy by 246 votes and edged out the NDP's John Morgan by 33 votes.

Morgan asked for a judicial recount last week. After nearly six hours of examining each ballot in two courtrooms in Sydney on Monday, White's margin of victory shrank to 29 votes.

Morgan said the outcome was not a surprise, but the process was worth the effort.

"I think it gives people a lot more comfort in the counting of ballots and so we're pleased with that," he said shortly after Justice Jamie Campbell declared White the winner.

White was not at the recount, but PC Party representative Paula Henderson said she, too, was happy with the outcome.

"There were a number of ballots that were changed and switched and everybody's number changed a little tiny bit in the recount, but it did result in a win for Johnny White," she said.

Lindsay Rodenkirchen, assistant chief electoral officer for the province, said a handful of votes switched and a few were rejected as a result of the recount.

She said the average result of recent recounts is a difference of two votes.

In this case, the result was a difference of four, with White's overall margin of victory dropping from 33 to 29.

"It is a normal shift to see a few votes change," Rodenkirchen said.

Recount results (vs. election night)

• Liberal John John McCarthy - 2,479 (2,480)
• New Democrat John Morgan - 2,725 (2,726)
• Progressive Conservative John White 2,754 (2,759)

Morgan said he is considering an appeal, but not on the outcome.

He said advance ballots were available for nine days that allowed people to vote for a party, even though they did not list any candidate names.

Morgan said that is unconstitutional, because the Charter does not recognize political parties, but does protect people's right to vote for a member of parliament or legislature.

He said party polling before the election showed people would vote for him, even if they would not normally vote for the NDP.

"So when Elections Nova Scotia leaves my name off the ballot for such a long period of time, and so many people vote during that time, they may very well have impacted the results simply by that decision," Morgan said.

He raised constitutional objections to some of those advance ballots during the recount, but the judge declined to rule on that, saying a recount is not the proper place to argue a constitutional challenge.

In the past, Elections Nova Scotia has allowed advance ballots to go out before nominations close in order to make sure some people are not excluded from voting.

Rodenkirchen said Elections Nova Scotia recommended the process change after the last election in 2017, but she said government has not yet acted on that recommendation.

"Elections Nova Scotia does intend to go forward again with our post-event recommendations for legislative change and make the recommendation again to not allow voting prior to the close of nominations," she said.

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