David Hendsbee and his wife Susan welcome news of his re-election.
Richard Bell
(This article was revised at 10:00 am October 16 with the complete unofficial results for City Council and School Board. Returns for the other two races remain incomplete at this time.).
In an election in which turnout dropped to a miserable 31.7% of the vote, there were no surprises on election night on the Eastern Shore, with wins for District 2 incumbent David Hendsbee and School Board District 1 incumbent Bridget Boutlier. (Turnout in 2012 was 38.7%).
In District 2, David Hendsbee (3262) won his first re-election race in the expanded district with almost 50% of the vote. Gail McQuarrie (1980) finished in 2nd place again, followed by Shelley Fashan (1090) and Sydnee McKay (242).
In the District 1 School Board race, incumbent Bridget Boutilier (2639) defeated her nearest competitor, former School Board member Steve Brine (2270) by 369 votes, out of a total of 6,635 in District 1.[Elizabeth Lively (1576); Kent Smith (829); and Morton Simmonds (321)].
In the race for African Nova Scotian Member of the Halifax Regional School Board, Archy Beals (1419) held a vote lead over incumbent Melinda Daye (1106), with 361 of 499 tables reporting.
And in the race for Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial (three seats were at stake, with 4 candidates), the vote totals with 325 tables reporting out of 499 were as follows: Lucien Comeau (1244), André Surette (919), Marthe Craig (901) and Patrice Deschenes (690), with 348 of 499 tables reporting.
In an interview this evening, Hendsbee said this year’s race had been easier than the his first run in the expanded district in 2012, which he called “a hard fought battle.” He attributed the difference to less communication with the voters by other candidates. He felt his opponents this year “didn’t utilize the media, didn’t buy a lot of advertising, and didn’t use the mail box.” (In 2012, Hendsbee won 40.7% of the vote in a 6-way contest.)
Looking ahead, Hendsbee said some of top priorities would be getting on with secondary planning for Musquodoboit Harbour, expanding the reach of the Metro X bus service, and building another baseball field in Musquodoboit Harbour.
