‘The ballots will tell the tale’: recount underway in Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore

The ballot re-count in Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore began on Tuesday. CTV Windsor’s Michelle Maluske has the details.

About 100 people are recounting all 70,546 ballots cast in the April 28 federal election.

Conservative candidate Kathy Borrelli won – initially – by 233 votes. A recount narrowed the gap to just 77 votes.

On May 9, Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk successfully launched a request for a judicial recount.

“I know that the stakes are quite high, and everybody’s interested the right outcome happens,” Justice Ross MacFarlane said Tuesday, minutes before the recount started.

“The ballots will tell the tale.”

The judge then asked the staff and volunteers to keep their work over the next three days confidential, to protect the electoral process.

As soon as the ballot boxes came out, the media was prevented from taking any video or still images of the recount but are permitted to remain in the room.

There are some local Liberal party staff members in the room, connecting volunteers with Elections Canada officials to answer questions as the boxes are opened and the ballots counted

The Process

25 tables have been set up with four people at each table.

They will go through every ballot cast at Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore polls.

Each box has a sealed green plastic bag, which appears to contain the brown envelopes with the ballots.

The brown envelopes are sorted and put back into the box.

Each brown envelope is opened and the ballot pulled out.

According to Liberal party spokesperson, two staff members for Elections Canada will physically handle the ballots.

They turn each one to the two other people at the table; a Conservative party volunteer and a Liberal party volunteer.

The party volunteers are keeping track of the votes.

If the volunteers are unsure of a ballot the judge will make the final decision whether the ballot counts or not.

Elections Canada says 536 ballots were rejected.

It’s estimated the work will take three days to complete.