OTTAWA — After nearly winning a seat on Ottawa city council two years ago, Catherine Kitts has earned a spot this time around after winning the Cumberland ward byelection on Monday. Kitts received 54 per cent of the vote, more than doubling the second-place finisher in a 10-candidate race. The City Clerk officially certified the results Tuesday afternoon. Kitts' victory comes after she lost a tight race in Orléans ward in 2018. Coun. Matthew Luloff, who won that race by fewer than 300 votes, endorsed her for this one. Kitts also had the support of MPP Stephen Blais, who vacated the Cumberland seat in March to run for his seat in the provincial legislature. Blais’s departure triggered the byelection. Yvette Ashiri came second in the race on Monday, winning just under 22 per cent of the vote, according to the city’s official results. Kitts, a former editor of the Orléans Star newspaper, relocated with her partner to Navan, which is in Cumberland ward, after the 2018 election. It was the city’s first election during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there were a number of measures introduced for voting day. Masks were mandatory inside voting stations and there were sanitization stations at each location. Electors received their own single-use pens and privacy sleeves when casting their ballots. There was also an extra day of advance voting. According to official results, 8,708 ballots were cast, for a voter turnout of 23.97 per cent.
