Patty Cuttell. Photo: Zane Woodford

Patty Cuttell is the unofficial winner in District 11 — Spryfield-Sambro Loop-Prospect Road, beating runner-up Bruce Holland by just 28 votes.

Cuttell’s was one of six districts with delayed results after the municipality stopped reporting late Saturday night, but it was the only one too close to call.

According to the now-complete unofficial results, Cuttell received 1,662 votes — 19.6%. Holland received 1,634. Matthew Conrad was the next runner-up in the crowded field of 12 candidates, garnering 1,482 votes.

“Obviously I’m feeling great. It’s been a very long night and day today,” Cuttell said in an interview Sunday.

“I was very optimistic, and I’m happy things look like they’ve gone my way here.”

Cuttell said she had no information on the reason for the delay.

Just after midnight, the municipality told the Examiner there was a “manual check occurring to ensure that all tables are being reported.”

Official results are due by Wednesday, and although a recount won’t be automatic in this case, it’s likely Holland will request one given the tight margin and inexplicable delay in counting.

Cuttell joins seven other women unofficially elected to council Saturday. Eight would be the highest number of women on council since redrawn districts in 2012 reduced the number of councillors from 23 to 16. There were 10 women elected to council in 2008.

Other winners confirmed by the complete unofficial results on Sunday:

  • Coun. David Hendsbee unofficially wins District 2 — Preston–Chezzetcook-Eastern Shore with 4,294 votes, 51%.
  • Kathryn Morse unofficially wins District 10 — Halifax-Bedford Basin West with 1,924 votes, 27.5%.
  • Pamela Lovelace unofficially wins District 13 — Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets with 3,353 votes, 36.3%.
  • Deputy Mayor Lisa Blackburn unofficially wins District 14 — Middle/Upper Sackville-Beaver Bank with 4,898 votes, 85.1%.
  • Iona Stoddard unofficially wins District 12 — Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park with 3,002 votes, 37.7%. (Coun. Richard Zurawski received 2,607 votes.)

The voter turnout, based on the number of eligible voters provided by the municipality Saturday night, 321,783, is 39.8%. There was still one table left to report in the mayoral race, however, as of 2pm Sunday.

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A young white man with a dark beard, looking seriously at the viewer in a black and white photo

Zane Woodford

Zane Woodford is the Halifax Examiner’s municipal reporter. He covers Halifax City Hall and contributes to our ongoing PRICED OUT housing series. Twitter @zwoodford

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2 Comments

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  1. Memo to some candidates : with turnout at only 40% and some candidates elected at 20% of the minority who bothered to voted, you might sigh and think 90% of your potential electorate didn’t like me enough to vote for me.
    More positively, remind yourself that 90% of the voters didn’t dislike you enough to get off the couch to vote against you !

  2. Big night for the NDP. They went out and helped get women elected : Kent,Stoddard and Morse. in HRM. Gary Burrill will be very happy and must be looking forward. a 2021 provincial election.