12:55 a.m. update:
Sonny Spina spoke to reporters at The Rink, at the Canal District, praising his team for the close vote.
"Every time we left a neighborhood after knocking on doors, more people joined us. People recognize there's an opportunity here to advance and do things better for our community. If we're successful in this election it's certainly because of everyone here."
"The voters here need a voice, they need someone to unify that voice and they need someone to move forward together with. We're seeing a large number of voters coming out and I'm excited about that because it tells me how engaged people are in our community so im very optimistic about our future here," Spina told SooToday's Darren Taylor at a gathering of Conservative supporters at The Rink, adjacent to The Machine Shop.
12:25 a.m. update:
With a slight lead over Conservative challenger Sonny Spina, incumbent Liberal Terry Sheehan tells SooToday's Kenneth Armstrong that he plans to rest with family overnight and "soak it all in."
Sheehan, who spoke to reporters at the Grand Theatre shortly after midnight, said he is happy to see the Liberal Party win the election.
"Every single vote matters. This certainly proves that," said Sheehan.
The incumbent MP said his team hadn't run any polls.
"We knew it was going to be a tight race."
Original story:
The razor-thin margins currently separating Liberal Terry Sheehan and Conservative Sonny Spina could mean we won’t know who won until Wednesday or later.
Elections Canada says local special ballots, including mail-in ballots, can only be counted after polls close.
“Some checks can be completed as the ballot envelopes are received, but others require information from polls on election night or the day after. While returning officers were able to conduct these checks on election night in previous elections, the volume of local electors who will be casting special ballots, including mail-in ballots, during the election will make it impossible to complete these checks on election night,” says the Election Canada website.
The verifications seek to answer the following questions:
Does the information on the outer envelope match the information in the application?
Did the elector sign the mandatory declaration?
Did the elector vote more than once?
Did Elections Canada receive the outer envelope on time?
According to a previous SooToday story, 1,393 mail-in ballots have been returned to Elections Canada out of the 2,190 mail-in voting kits that were issued to voters in the Sault Ste. Marie electoral district as of Sept. 15.
“The verification checks can begin only after polls close,” says Elections Canada. “Returning officers will start the verification checks on the morning of Tuesday, September 21, and it may take up to 24 hours to finish them, at which point the counting of local special ballots can begin. Therefore, some ridings may not start reporting results for local special ballots until Wednesday, Sept. 22. All candidates in a riding may have representatives present at each counting location to observe the counting process.”
The full count may take up to four days in some ridings.
An estimated 8,813 voters took advantage of advance polls this year in Sault Ste. Marie, up from the 6,526 voters at advance polls in 2019.
In the 2019 federal election, Sheehan and the Liberals had 16,284 votes for 39.05 per cent of the electorate. Conservative Sony Spina had 13,407 votes for 32.15 per cent.
The NDP got 9,459 votes for 22.68 per cent.
The Greens, who did not field a local candidate this election, had 1,809 votes in 2019. The People’s Party had 741 votes.
Terry Sheehan has been MP for Sault Ste. Marie since 2015.
- with files from Kenneth Armstrong
