No recount for Sahtu as official election results widen Danny McNeely's lead

Danny McNeely has now officially been elected as the MLA for Sahtu, after Elections NWT announced Wednesday that a recount of the riding's results won't be necessary.

On Tuesday, Elections NWT said in a news release there would be a judicial recount of the results from four ridings where winners won by a margin of less than two per cent of the total votes cast in the riding. The four ridings were Sahtu, Range Lake, Nunakput and Yellowknife North.

In Sahtu, unofficial results from election night had Danny McNeely winning with 239 votes and Yvonne Doolittle in second place with 227 votes. Judi Tutcho got 166 votes and Paul Andrew, 122.

On Wednesday, Elections NWT said in a news release the official addition of poll statements revealed McNeely received 271 votes, Doolittle 242, Andrew 229 and Tutcho 175. These are the official election results.

The release said since the difference in the number of votes McNeely and Doolittle received is now greater than two per cent, no recount is necessary under N.W.T.'s election rules.

Standard procedure

In an email to CBC, chief electoral officer Nicole Latour said "a data entry error was identified and corrected" in the results for Sahtu.

Issuing the final numbers following election night is part of the standard protocol for Elections NWT, according to Latour.

On election night, election officers communicate their poll results in a variety of ways to the returning officer, as quickly as possible.

"The posted results are deemed unofficial as reporting or entry errors can occur," she said.

In the following days, she says, the returning officer does the "official addition," taking the statement from each poll and tallying them up in a summary form.

"Quite commonly errors come to light and are corrected and verified as true at that time."