Results of tight race in Halifax's District 11 slowed by new staff, poll confusion

New staff and confusion over tallying two advance polls led to a delay in declaring Patty Cuttell the winner of District 11 in Halifax's municipal election, the returning officer said Monday.

The unofficial results of Saturday's vote for councillor in Spryfield-Sambro Loop-Prospect Road were not released until the following afternoon, long after other candidates across the province knew whether their campaigns had been successful. 

"We had a lot of new workers this time around," said Sherryll Murphy, the returning officer for the Halifax municipal election.

"We were unclear and we didn't want to take any chances in terms of results."

Murphy decided to wait to release the unofficial numbers until after the ballot boxes and poll books arrived. In the end, Cuttell was declared the winner Sunday by just 28 votes over candidate Bruce Holland.

"We had 500 books and ballot boxes that came back," said Murphy. "We had to process them in order."

Runner-up recount?

The final tally of all those poll books takes place district by district in front of the candidates on Tuesday. But individual ballots are not dealt with unless there is a recount in front of a judge.

Candidates have until Oct. 27 to ask for a recount.

Holland told CBC News he will wait until after Tuesday's official tally to decide if he wants a recount. He said he is particularly interested in the number of spoiled and rejected ballots.

Holland also said his election team is encouraging him to ask for a recount.