The Waterloo Catholic District School Board trustee election has come to an end, finally, and only 5.7 per cent of eligible voters in Cambridge cast a ballot.
The three WCDSB trustees will be Marisa Phillips, David Guerin and Robert Sikora after receiving 971, 685 and 495 votes, respectively.
A total of 3,216 votes were cast, 1,144 of which were cast online.
The initial election, which was scheduled for Oct. 24 as part of the municipal election, was called off two days prior after it was discovered that the names of two candidates were left off the ballot.
The discovery forced city clerk Danielle Manton to declare "an emergency under the Elections Act" to temporarily postpone the election for Catholic board trustees. Approximately 1,700 ballots had been cast before the emergency declaration.
Then, the rescheduled election which began Nov. 7, had to be extended until 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 25 due to delays in the postal delivery of Voter Information Letters.
Although votes from North Dumfries are counted with Cambridge, their ballots were not affected by the ballot mistake and their votes were sealed and combined with Cambridge's when the election was completed
The results will be made official on Saturday.
To view the Unofficial Election Summary Report, visit: www.cambridge.ca/en/
The new trustees for Cambridge North Dumfries will take their oath of office during Monday's inaugural meeting in the board room at the Catholic Education Centre in Kitchener.
The City of Cambridge says it "is committed to a fair and transparent election process. While not mandated by the Municipal Election Act, the City has launched a third-party review to understand how and why the error occurred and to ensure improvements towards future processes."
Costs associated with the municipal election, the resumption of the WCDSB election, and review are funded from the Election Reserve Fund, the city says.
The city contributes annually to the Election Reserve Fund to support election work and preparation.
A report, including costs, is expected to be completed by the new year.
