Clark Expressing Confidence She’s Won Mayoral Election

Incumbent Mayor Linnsie Clark is expressing confidence she’s won a return to council during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on the OwlNews.ca live broadcast. She also cautioned the hand counting of ballots this year has likely delayed the counting process.

“I will feel more confident once we know how many votes have been counted, how many are left to count and are these the final numbers,” said Clark.

Citing unnamed city sources, the Medicine Hat News reported Tuesday evening that 90 per cent of votes have been counted for the mayoral race.

The Owl has not been able to independently verify that claim nor has the city publicly released any such data regarding vote counts or turnout.

If correct, the Owl is projecting approximately 1,800 votes remaining to be counted prior to counting resuming Wednesday morning.

The council side of the equation is more fluid.

Again, the Medicine Hat News, citing unnamed sources at the city, is reporting 70 per cent of council votes have been counted.

Requests by the Owl to chief electoral officer Andres Cardona Arias and returning officer Tarolyn Aaserud have not been responded to Wednesday morning.

Owl reporter and council candidate Kelly Allard contacted the city Clerk’s office Tuesday afternoon and was told they had no idea how many Hatters had voted at that time.

Based on available data, the Owl is projecting 6,000 ballots remain to be counted starting Wednesday morning for the council race.

Yusuf Mohammed, who is as of Wednesday morning leading the council vote, expressed gratitude for the results so far.

Asked what he attributes his large lead amongst the votes counted, Mohammed responded, “community.”

He said that was demonstrated early in his campaign when he first received delivery of his election signs which he was starting to assemble and kids from the neighbourhood approached him.

“The kids said, ‘can we help you do that,’” said Mohammed. “All the kids from 10 years old to 12-year-olds to 15-year-olds in my neighbourhood, we ended up picking all these lawn signs, putting them on my kids’ trampoline and we started building them. . .That is when I knew this journey would be about working together with community.”

From that point on, Mohammed said the ball began to roll with a lot of support from help to knock on doors, getting others involved and garnering support for his campaign.

“I felt the love, said Mohammed.

Vote counting resumed Wednesday morning at 9.

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City releasing Some Election Numbers Late Tuesday