The race for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte was closer than first reported

The race to represent Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte at Queen's Park was closer than initially reported, with fewer than 300 votes separating the front-runners.

Elections Ontario had PC Doug Downey taking the win with 609 votes over Liberal candidate Jeff Lehman; however, official results recently released show the lead was a mere 296 votes.

Voters cast 16,631 ballots in Downey's favour compared to Lehman's 16,335.

After returning to his mayor chair earlier this week, Lehman said that while it was good to be back at Barrie City Hall, losing the election by such a small margin was tough.

"It was a difficult couple of days for sure," he noted.

Lehman said while he wasn't sure about his future plans after declining to run for mayor again, he did say he "wasn't done yet."

Meanwhile, Downey breathed a sigh of relief over keeping his seat for a second term as MPP.

"Every vote counts," the 52-year-old said.

The riding of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte has more than 85,000 registered electors.

Elections Ontario reported there were 118 rejected votes, 65 unmarked, and 27 ballots declined by voters.

Voter turnout in the riding was 44.61 per cent.

Get caught up on all the local election news here.