After months of anticipation, debates and delays, the preliminary results for Sooke's byelection are in, and Herb Haldane is projected to become the district’s next councillor.
With 732 votes, Haldane will return to Sooke council chambers upon ratification of the election results. But the final tally was close, as Haldane narrowly edged out runner-up Helen Ritts, who received 709 votes. In third place was Katherine Strongwind, who tallied 432 votes.
Once the results are made official, Haldane will fill the seat left by Dana Lajeunesse, who departed council chambers last November after being elected to the B.C. legislature.
Holidays and the impending federal election made the scheduling of the byelection somewhat complicated. But when the time came, seven candidates threw their hats into the ring in hopes of being Sooke’s next councillor. They were Shaun Burns, Nick Dickson-Wilde, Herb Haldane, Nathan McKeown, Elaine Price, Helen Ritts and Katherine Strongwind.
In total, 2,071 votes were cast, most on general voting day, with 1,119 cast on July 12. Advance voting days saw fairly strong turnouts as well, with 403 votes cast on July 2 and 517 on July 9.
Herb Haldane served as Sooke councillor from 2008 to 2014, and sought to run in the past provincial election with BC United before the party disbanded.
