Lisa Hern takes Ward 3 seat in Wellington North byelection

After losing by just a couple votes in the 2010 election and missing the 2014 election due to illness, Lisa Hern has won a spot on Wellington North council.  

Unofficial results from the Nov. 16 byelection show Hern garnered 170 votes, or  32.9 per cent of 517 votes cast.

She narrowly defeated second place finisher Jens Dam, who received 158 votes or 30.6%. The other six candidates finished far behind, receiving anywhere from 11 to 89 votes.

Hern, who will take over the seat vacated after Mark Goetz resigned in June, said she was relieved to win the byelection.

“I’m really glad to see there was a great voter turnout … our council is a great team and I want to continue the work that they’ve done,” said Hern.

CAO Mike Givens commented that voter turnout increased from 31 per cent for Ward 3 in the 2014 municipal election to around 38 per cent in the byelection.

Givens said the mail-in ballot system may have contributed to the increase and Mayor Andy Lennox agreed.

“Looks like we’ve had a higher voter turnout so that’s encouraging,” said Lennox.

“I’m sure we’ll be discussing again whether this is the method we’re going to use going forward or not.”

Hern will be sworn in during the next council meeting on Nov. 23.

The unofficial Ward 3 byelection results are as follows:

– Lisa Hern, 170 votes (or 32.9% of all votes cast);

– Jens Dam, 158 (30.6%);

– Stephen O’Neill, 89 (17.2%);

– Ross Chaulk, 36 (6.9%);

– John Matusinec, 19 (3.7%);

– Cliff Heffernan, 17 (3.3%);

– Gerald Shepetunko, 17 (3.3%); and

 – David Culp, 11 (2.1%).

 

 

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