Fraser mulling Regina-Lewvan recount; Sask. voter turnout skyrockets

The Conservative candidate in the hard-fought Regina-Lewvan riding is considering requesting a recount.

On Monday night, Trent Fraser received 16,701 votes. The NDP’s Erin Weir got 16,844, Elections Canada reported after the last poll closed.

That’s a difference of 143 votes, or about 0.3 per cent of the 47,826 votes cast for the five candidates in the riding.

Fraser raised the possibility of a recount as the last few ballots were counted on Monday night, in a race that saw the lead change hands several times.

On Tuesday, his campaign team met to discuss the matter.

Kelly Gallagher, Fraser’s campaign manager, said the meeting was held to prepare for today’s vote validation meeting with Elections Canada.

All parties have the chance to attend.

“Our representatives will be there and based on what comes out of that we’ll probably decide what our next steps are going to be,” Gallagher said. “At this point in time there’s really nothing that we have determined which way we are going.”

A decision is expected to be made after Fraser and his team examines the ballots, but it’s not known when that decision will be made.

Fraser also alleges Conservative scrutineers witnessed “anomalies” at polling stations in the riding. Gallagher confirmed that. “A lot of scrutineers and runners had witnessed things that they felt ... were inappropriate,” he said.

Although it’s unclear if Fraser will request a recount, Weir said he and his campaign team would “respect the process” if such a request is made, but he added that the counting of “every ballot was scrutinized by representatives from all political parties.”

As a result, “I’m not sure what the basis of the challenge would be, but, certainly, I’d defer to this process.

“There’s no objection form our side. I’ll just say that I think the proper process was followed.”

Nearly three-quarters of eligible Saskatchewan voters cast ballots in Monday’s election.

Voter turnout in the province was 72.1 per cent, up sharply from 63.1 per cent in 2011, and surpassing the previous record of 65.3 per cent in 1997.

“I really felt, when I saw those figures: Wow, this is great for Canada and, especially in Saskatchewan, for democracy,” said John Courtney, a senior policy fellow at the University of Saskatchewan’s JohnsonShoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.

“It shows that people really have taken an interest in this election.”

Saskatchewan’s high turnout is in line with a Canadawide trend.

Nationally, more than 68 per cent of voters cast ballots — the highest turnout since 1993, when 69.6 per cent of voters flocked to the polls in an election that saw the Liberals shoot to power under Jean Chretien.

The three Regina ridings of Wascana, Lewvan and Qu’Appelle had turnouts of 75.4, 74.9 and 69.5 per cent respectively.

Courtney said the high turnout was to be expected.

“As a general rule, whenever an election is seen or generally perceived to be close, turnout goes up,” he said.

The vast northern Saskatchewan riding of DesnetheMissinippi-Churchill River — which, in 2011, saw the province’s lowest voter turnout at just 50.4 per cent — had a turnout this year of 68.1 per cent, a testament to a mobilized First Nations voting base.

The northern riding was the tightest race in the province and one of the tightest in the country, with just 70 votes separating NDP victor Georgina Jolibois from Liberal candidate Lawrence Joseph.