'Just a mistake': NLESD school board election officer apologizes wrong winner declared

You could call it the (short-lived) mystery of the missing ballots.

The wrong winner was declared in one seat of the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) elections.

"Well I'm not sure I'd fully articulate it went wrong," Terry Hall, returning officer with the school board election,said Thursday.

It's part of the process, and it's unfortunate. No one wants to have to see this.- Terry Hall

On Tuesday night, WhitbourneElementary school advocate Wade Smith was declared winner of the Zone 12 NLESD trustee vote.

But Wednesday afternoon, it was determined Smith had not in fact won the voteHarbour Grace Coun. Hayward Blake had.

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Hall told CBC Radio'sSt. John's Morning Showthat Smith was first listed winner of the zone because they wanted "to get some message out there," while acknowledgingthey knew some polls were not fully reported.

"These results when they go up, you have to remember, they are unofficial and preliminary, and subject to change," said Hall.

The results did indeed change for Zone 12, the area home to Whitbourne and Woodland elementary schools.

Whitbourne Elementary has been slated to close, but parents won a court challenge to have that decision reviewed. If the school does close, students would go to Woodland, in neighbouring Dildo.

Hall said roughly 300 votes from a polling station in Woodland Elementary School were not counted Tuesday, and those votes changed the outcome of the election.

Fax failure

Votes were sent in by fax from the station, and Hall said that meant there were a number of items coming in at the same time.

"At some points it did slow down a little with technology coming in," said Hall.

Thefax with the results simply didn't go through, and there didn't appear to be a number missing until the results were reviewed.

"This is just a mistake in the process."

Hall said he called Wade Smith to apologize when he realized the error.

"I just expressed to him what had happened, and that it's part of the process, and it's unfortunate. No one wants to have to see this," said Hall.

"But I just wanted to make sure that I spoke to him directly, and the other candidate before I even put out a release or anyone else knew, I felt that I owed them that respect."