Arry Dhillon wins city council by-election by just 10 votes
By Castlegar Source
Preliminary election results have Arry Dhillon winning the Castlegar council by-election seat by a margin of just 10 votes.
Preliminary results are: Arry Dhillon, 692, Cherryl MacLeod, 682, Janna Sylvest, 398 and Tyler Maddocks 72, with 1844 voters and 134 new registrations.
“That’s just enough that I can feel comfortable – it’s unlikely there will be 10 spoiled ballots,” Dhillon said, right after hearing of his win.
Official results will be declared on Monday at City Hall conference room at 10 a.m., and Dhillon will be sworn in at council’s regular meeting Nov. 21.
“I’m excited to start, once I actually have the confirmation,” he said. “Right away, I want to sit down with Andre (Buss, city director of financial services) and start working on keeping my campaign promises – he’ll be a key person in figuring out funding, and the back end of how these things work.”
Of his 10-vote victory, Dhillon said he thinks it sends an critical message to voters.
“It’s a hugely important message – your vote matters. Every single vote matters.”
This was very high voter turn-out for a Castlegar by-election – by-elections tend to draw fewer voters overall, with 2013’s only bringing in 971 votes total, while the 2008 by-election saw only 1,071 ballots cast.
