The people of Yorkton have spoken, and they wanted a change. Five new faces are joining city council, and for most of the evening it appeared as though there would be a change in the mayor's chair as well.
The mayor's chair was decided by the final poll, with Mayor Bob Maloney holding onto his chair by the thinnest of margins. Thirty-three votes separated him from his closest challenger, former councillor Chris Wyatt, who lead the polls for most of the evening. It was the advance polls that decided the night, with Maloney getting 466 votes to Wyatt's 386, just enough to eke out a victory. The total votes came in at 1933 for Maloney and an even 1900 for Wyatt. The remaining challengers, Calvin Tokarchuk and Andrew Probe, received 729 and 123 votes respectively, for a total of 4685 ballots cast.
The council race was consistent all evening, and the final result saw Quinn Haider lead the group with 2250 votes, followed by Aaron Kienle with 1866, Darcy Zaharia with 1865, Mitch Hippsley with 1858, Randy Goulden with 1767 and Ken Chyz narrowly beating out incumbent councillor James Wilson, with 1540 votes to Wilson's 1457. Goulden is the lone incumbent to return to council, with Larry Pearen finishing in eighth, Ross Fisher in eleventh, and Les Arnelien in 13th among the 24 people vying for a spot.
See more election coverage in the November 2 edition of Yorkton This Week.
.JPG;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
