BURST
A judicial recount in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore confirmed late Thursday evening that the Conservative candidate clung to the seat by a handful of votes — nearly one month after the April 28 federal election.
The three-day recount narrowed the margin from 77 votes to just four, securing Conservative Kathy Borrelli a razor-thin victory over Liberal candidate Irek Kusmierczyk, who had held the federal seat since 2019.
“ After a thorough review, I am humbled to confirm the result has reaffirmed the outcome of election night, ” Conservative Kathy Borrelli said in an emailed statement around 2:30 a.m. Friday.
“I am grateful that the recount process has now come to a definitive close.
“I want to thank Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk for his years of service to our community. I look forward to working with his constituency office to ensure a smooth transition, as we focus on serving the people of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore.”
An Elections Canada spokesperson told the Star that the results were confirmed shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday.
“We came up a little short,” Kusmierczyk said in a Facebook post published around 11 a.m. Friday.
“Four votes to be exact (but who’s counting, ha). The victory is in the fight, and that’s what matters. In the end, that is all we hold in our hands.”
The judicial review began Tuesday morning at a Tecumseh office space in Green Valley Plaza, where 25 tables staffed by teams of four — including two Elections Canada appointees and one representative from each campaign — meticulously combed through every ballot box, including all rejected ballots.
Over three days, the recount teams reviewed more than 70,000 votes from 23 advance, 252 ordinary, and five mobile polls.
The judicial recount confirmed that Borrelli received 32,090 votes to Kusmierczyk’s 32,086 — 45.8 per cent and 45.7 per cent of the total ballots cast, respectively.
“It is with great excitement and deep respect that I prepare to be sworn in as your next Member of Parliament,” said Borrelli.
“I am ready to get to work—on behalf of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, for our region, and for our country.”
The review took place under the oversight of Justice Ross J. Macfarlane of the Superior Court.
The recount was ordered May 9 by Justice Macfarlane after Kusmierczyk applied to the court, flagging multiple tabulation errors and a high number of rejected ballots.
The Liberal campaign presented information acquired through an affidavit showing rejected ballots that they argued should have been accepted.
More than 500 of the roughly 70,000 votes cast in Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore were rejected.
“To serve this remarkable community these last six years has been the honour of my life,” said Kusmierczyk.
He added that “it is incredible and inspiring and above all humbling to see so many good people in our community rally together behind us.”
Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore is one of four ridings nationwide where recounts have taken place since the federal election, which secured Mark Carney’s Liberals a minority government.
However, the local recount was the only federal riding where a review was not automatically triggered by Elections Canada rules that require the number of votes separating the winner and runner-up equal less than 0.1 per cent of total ballots cast.
A standard validation process carried out in the days after Borrelli secured her election night victory chipped away at her initial 233-vote lead over Kusmierczyk, whittling it down to 77 — a mere seven votes shy of an automatic recount.
Judicial recounts underway in several ridings underscore just how crucial every vote can be.
For the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, for instance, one single vote made a difference.
The validation process initially declared a win for the Bloc Québécois, even though the Liberal candidate was projected to win the seat in the historically Bloc stronghold.
Related
An automatic recount reversed the election night result once more, confirming a Liberal victory over the Bloc by a single vote. The flip brought the Liberal party to 170 seats in the House of Commons — two short of the 172 needed to form a majority.
In the Milton East-Halton Hills South riding in Ontario, a judicial recount confirmed a Liberal victory over the Conservative candidate by a margin of 21 votes.
Meanwhile, in Newfoundland’s Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding, a judicial recount that began on May 12 is still underway.
The initial results showed the Liberal candidate leading with just 12 votes, triggering an automatic recount.
