Following last night’s nailbiting political race – the closest in 120 years – NDP candidate Lisa Vezeau-Allen had not formally conceded after finishing 118 votes shy of becoming Sault Ste. Marie’s new MPP.
The two-term city councillor was narrowly edged out by the Progressive Conservative’s Chris Scott in what was the closest race since the Liberal’s Charles Napier Smith beat Conservative candidate Andrew Miscampbell by a 110-vote margin in the 1905 Ontario general election.
Though the results of that historical contest stood, on Thursday night Vezeau-Allen showed no signs of admitting defeat – at least not yet – stating that "we aren't calling it."
"None of this is official. So it's all unofficial . . . until it's official, I'm happy to make a statement, but right now it's all unofficial," she told SooToday after the results came in.
On Friday, a representative from Elections Ontario confirmed that all votes – including mail-in ballots – have been counted for the Sault Ste. Marie riding, but that the results have not yet been made official.
According to the Elections Ontario website, an application for a recount must be made by a returning officer in races decided by less than 25 votes.
However, an application for a recount can also be made by a candidate or elector if they believe that a deputy returning officer has improperly counted or improperly rejected any ballot, or improperly tabulated the votes.
Vezeau-Allen and her team have yet to return calls on last night’s results.
– With files from Kenneth Armstrong