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Shawn Skinner wins Ward 2 seat on St. John's city council

Shawn Skinner, a former provincial cabinet minister, will be returning to St. John's city council, according to unofficial results of the City of St. John's Ward 2 byelection.

According to the city's unofficial results, Skinner had 1,242 votes total out of the 5,429 votes that were cast leading up to Tuesday's 8 p.m. deadline.

That's just shy of 23 per cent of the total vote.

The remaining candidate's total votes are as follows:

  • Ophelia Ravencroft, 936

  • Lorne Loder, 923

  • Greg Smith, 586

  • Carol Anne Furlong, 570

  • Matt Howse, 480

  • Greg Noseworthy, 470

  • Wallace Ryan, 222

The results were posted on the city's website shortly before 9 p.m.

In a media release the city said the byelection results will be officiated on Wednesday by the city clerk's office.

Experience in politics

Skinner had previously held the seat in Ward 2 — which includes downtown St. John's and some nearby neighbourhoods — from 1993 until 1997.

In 2003 Skinner — running as a Progressive Conservative — defeated former Liberal Finance Minister Joan Marie Aylward in the province's general election. Aylward had held the seat from 1996 to 2003.

Skinner served in the cabinets of premiers Danny Williams and Kathy Dunderdale.

Skinner's portfolio changed a handful of times up until his departure from politics in 2014. His portfolios included human resources, labour and employment, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp., innovation, trade and rural development, and natural resources.

Multiple candidates encouraging, says prof

Meanwhile, a political scientist at Memorial University says both the city and voters stand to benefit from the wide array of candidates on Tuesday's ballot.

Elizabeth Schwartz, an assistant professor of political science at MUN, says it's great to see so many people put their names forward.

"I think its really encouraging to see so many people who are enthusiastic about municipal politics and serving the community," Schwartz told The St. John's Morning Show.

"I think we see a diversity of backgrounds in these candidates. Their life experiences, of who they are as people, their ideologies."

The seat in Ward 2 opened up after former councillor Hope Jamieson announced she was stepping down in July.

Schwartz suggests the volume of choice could lead more residents to the ballot box.

"I think having lots of candidates that represent different people can hopefully translate into more voters, because municipal voter turnout tends to be pretty low compared to other elections," she said.

While Schwartz says the sheer number of candidates could lead to higher turnout, she said there's still one drawback.

"The obvious downside is that it's harder to co-ordinate among voters, especially at the municipal level," she said. "Candidates aren't members of political parties, so it's harder for voters to know exactly what each candidate stands for."

Rob Antle/CBC
Rob Antle/CBC

"Not having parties and having many candidates means that it's harder for each candidate to get across their message, especially since most candidates don't have a lot of money to be promoting their agendas."

The COVID-19 pandemic has also presented new challenges to candidates trying to share their platform, as going door-to-door was not permitted during the campaign.

"I think many of the candidates have very similar positions, which is difficult for differentiating themselves," Schwartz said.

"There are many of the candidates that presented themselves as progressive candidates. They have really, I think, distinguished themselves in their conduct, and their answers to various questions at the different forums … but I think that it's very hard to distinguish yourself in this context."

Ranked ballots?

With eight candidates on the ballot, a byelection winner could have been decided with as little as 13 per cent of the vote. In an interview Tuesday morning, Schwartz had estimated the winner will receive around 30 per cent of the vote — similar to a provincial or federal election.

On social media over the course of the campaign, some residents raised the idea of introducing a ranked ballot to deal with the high number of candidates, allowing voters to list the candidates in order of who they would like to see take the seat.

A report on electoral reform last fall also endorsed the ranked-ballot system. Mayor Danny Breen said at the time he liked the idea, but deferred that decision to the province, as electoral overhaul isn't within the council's purview.

Schwartz said she believes changes to the city's voting system aren't a top priority, as the idea of a ranked ballot might not make sense in other wards.

"Ward 2 is the only ward that has more than two or three candidates historically," she said. "In 2017, there were seven candidates; now there are eight candidates. A ranked-ballot system if there's only two or three candidates [in other wards] isn't that useful."

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