Makivik election recount due to botched proxy votes, close results

A Nunavik voter casts a ballot in Kuujjuaq in a 2011 election. A Jan. 20 recount of Makivik Corp.’s Jan. 19 presidential election was authorized to verify proxy ballots and close results between the first and second-place candidates, says Makivik’s corporate secretary. (FILE PHOTO)

The Jan. 20 recount of votes in the Makivik Corp. presidential election stemmed from issues with proxy ballots cast in the Jan. 19 election, said the organization’s corporate secretary.

Jobie Tukkiapik was declared the winner, but not until election officials did a full recount of ballots the day after the election.

Corporate secretary Andy Moorhouse said he authorized the recount Jan. 20 after officials realized that proxy votes may not have been handled according to Makivik’s corporate by-laws.

Moorhouse said the recount was also done to verify the figures were accurate, given the close result.

On Jan. 19, Makivik declared Tukkiapik the winner with 1,297 ballots cast in his name – only 23 votes ahead of incumbent president Pita Aatami, who finished with 1,274.

Tukkiapik maintained his lead after the recount, although only by 13 votes: 1,281 to Aatami’s 1,268.

At the end of the recount, 37 ballots had been spoiled, almost half of them from the Montreal polling station.

Election results don’t specify which, if any of those, were proxy ballots.

A proxy ballot is designed for someone who cannot make it in person to a polling station to cast their vote. In that case, Makivik can mail or fax a proxy form to a beneficiary, who can then use the form to designate another beneficiary to cast a ballot on their behalf.

It’s unclear which by-laws were not followed in processing the proxy ballots, although some proxy voters say they received and used forms titled “for the election of executive director.”

Although the recount showed a 13-vote difference between the first- and second-place candidates, Moorhouse said all four candidates agreed that the Jan. 20 recount was sufficient.

Fifty per cent of 7,717 eligible beneficiary voters cast ballots in last week’s election.

Voter turnout was highest in the Ungava communities of Kangiqsujuaq (76 per cent), Tasiujaq (69 per cent) and Kangirsuk (67 per cent).

That’s the same region where Tukkiapik polled the highest, winning as much as 61 per cent of local votes in Kangirsuk.

Outgoing Makivik president Aatami polled highest in Akulivik, with 50 per cent of local votes. Aatami also won 37 per cent of the vote in Puvirnituq, the home town of fourth-place candidate Harry Tulugak, who took 30 per cent of the local vote.

Third-place candidate Charlie Watt polled highest in Inukjuak, where he received 56 per cent of the vote.

Overall, voter turnout was lowest in Ivujivik, where only 40 per cent of voters cast ballots. In Montreal, 20 per cent of eligible beneficiaries voted.

See the complete election results here.