The provincial election results in the riding of Thornhill have been changed from a Liberal victory to a Progressive Conservative triumph, Elections Ontario has confirmed.
Initial results from the June 12 election awarded the victory to Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco by a razor-thin, 85-vote margin. However, officials now say incumbent MPP Gila Martow, a PC candidate, actually won the vote.
The error was discovered during vote tabulation and appears to have been a data transposition error, according to a statement from Elections Ontario.
“Official Tabulation is a regular process that occurs in every electoral district,” the statement said. “At the conclusion of the Official Tabulation, each Returning Officer declares the candidate with the most votes to be elected.
“As a result of the Official Tabulation, the Returning Officer for the Electoral District of Thornhill has declared that Gila Martow, the candidate for the PC Party of Ontario, has obtained the most votes.”
According to officials, both Racco and Martow were present for the official Thornhill count on Friday, after which Martow was declared the winner -- again by an 85-vote margin.
The unofficial vote count put Racco at 21,837 votes, ahead of Martow’s 21,752. The official count showed 21,783 for Racco – a transposition of the final three numbers – and 21,868 for Martow.
Election night results are unofficial but media outlets are free to report them, a representative from Elections Ontario said. Actual votes, including rejected and declined ballots, are tabulated in the days after the election to confirm the accuracy of initial reports.
With the change, the Ontario Liberals still hold a majority of seats at Queen’s Park, but their initial 59 seats have dropped to 58. Outgoing PC Leader Tim Hudak’s party gets a bump, from 27 seats to 28.
Official tabulated results from every riding in the provincial election will be made public on Wednesday, June 18.
