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Liveblogging the Civic Vote 2006

By Marc Lostracco

torontoistvotes_graph.jpg
We liveblogged the civic election as it happened. Continue reading to see the night’s transcript.
More Torontoist coverage of Civic Vote 2006:
Design Daytripper: Election Signs
The Last Minute Voter’s Handbook
Chasing the No-Giambrone-Mobile
When Your Landlord Hearts The Other Candidate
Hotter Than He Should Be


Live entries are in descending order, with most recent entries at the top.
UPDATE: Case Ootes is now being listed as the winner, with only 20 votes more than Diane Alexopoulos.
10:00 PM: We wrap-up our live-blogging of the 2006 civic election. Please tell us your thoughts and experiences with the election in the comments. Our graphics will continue to be updated as information is returned.
9:55 PM: Lastman’s former Deputy Mayor and bike lane opponent Case Ootes down 180 votes and won’t be able to recover.
9:54 PM: About 99% of polls have reported.
9:51 PM: Upsets in Vaugan, Whitby, Oakville and Aurora
9:46 PM: Miller: We just signed an immigration agreement with the feds that gives Toronto a say
9:45 PM: Gord Martineau interviews David Miller on CityTV
TRIVIA: Howard Moscoe has been representing his area (Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence) for 30 years.
9:40 PM: Stephen Ledrew congratulates Miller and challenges him to deal with the issues from this race.
9:39 PM: Pitfield steps up to congratulate Miller personally
9:37 PM: Miller: I will keep the trust and reward the faith the people of Toronto have in me
9:34 PM: Miller: 70% diversion of garbage to landfill by 2010, up from 55%
9:35 PM: Miller: Parks are for people; not planes and pollution
9:34 PM: Miller: Toronto must be a world-leader in green environmental standards
9:31 PM: Miller: Toronto needs more of what the feds and the Province have lots of, which is money; we need a true New Deal.
9:31 PM: Miller: Canada’s major cities need share of existing sales tax and we will not take no for an answer
9:30 PM: Miller: Toronto must be aggressively marketed and funded.
9:28 PM: Miller: New resources will be allocated for beautification of neighbourhoods; maintain public policing; go after guns; no neighbourhood left behind.
9:27 PM: Miller: Last three years about turning the city around and Toronto is enjoying an era of prosperity and rebirth and confidence in our place in the world.
9:25 PM: Miller: I just campaigned 44 wards in 44 hours
9:24 PM: Miller: We need to roll-up sleeves and work together because we have a lot of work to do.
9:22 PM: Miller to Pifield and Ledrew: you deserve appreciation for your commitment to public service
9:21 PM: Mayor Miller begins acceptance speech.
TRIVIA: Mayor Miller now has the new power from the Province to pick a 13-member executive committee to implement additional revenue-raising initiatives (tobacco, liquor)
9:17 PM: Case Ootes undeclared as winner; now trailing.
9:11 PM: Vaughan’s margin of victory was higher than many expected considering strength of NDP in his riding.
9:11 PM: Adam Vaughan to CityTV: Affordable housing and public spaces a priority
TRIVIA: Ward 8 had a police officer at each polling station due to threats and voter intimidation.
9:07 PM: Peter LiPrieti (Ward 8 York West) only incumbent so far to lose seat on council
9:00 PM: David Miller about to leave Royal York Hotel to head over to his campaign party at the Steam Whistle Brewery
TRIVIA: Incumbent winner Kyle Rae (Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale) has been a councillor for 16 years and had seven opponents in this year’s election.
8:54 PM: Warren Kinsella says that Adam Vaughan may be Toronto’s next mayor in the next election.
8:53 PM: Oshawa Mayor John Gray re-elected (19,138 votes fo far; runner-up Kemp with 5,689)
TRIVIA: Vaughan’s primary opponent in Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina), Helen Kennedy, was formerly the executive assistant to Olivia Chow.
8:45 PM: Declared: Adam Vaughan in Olivia Chow’s former ward
8:43 PM: Pitfield: Last three years the most frustrating experience of my life; it was a waste of time.
8:42 PM: Jane Pitfield to Gord Martineau: No more politics for me.
8:38 PM: Declared: Brian Ashton, Michael Thompson
8:36 PM: Howard Moscoe wins; indicates this might be his last run; declares that having run-ins with people is his trademark.
8:32 PM: CityTV staking-out David Miller and his family in the Fairmont Royal York lobby.
TRIVIA: 38% of eligible voters cast ballots in the last civic election.
8:28 PM: Pitfield says the election was one of the best experiences of her life.
8:28 PM: Torontoist editor David Topping declares Jane Pitfield the loser.
8:27 PM: Jane Pitfield concedes to David Miller.
8:26 PM: 2:1 plurality for David Miller
8:23 PM: More landslides for Pam McConnell, Case Ootes, Paula Fletcher, Janet Davis, Shelley Carroll, Kyle Rae, Denzil Minnan-Wong
8:23 PM: Hazel McCallion pleased to be re-elected again. She’s served since 1978.
8:21 PM: Stephen Ledrew tells CityTV that the first poll was damaging to him because nobody knew who he was.
8:15 PM: Reader John Duncan tells us that Global TV has declared a victory for Miller with 55% of the recorded vote.
8:15 PM: Huge leads (over 70%) for Rob Ford, Doug Holyday, George Mammoliti, Maria Augimeri, Howard Moscoe, Joe Pantalone, Michael Walker
TRIVIA: 1.4 million Torontonians are eligible to vote in this election.
8:03 PM: Jane Pitfield visibly surprised that CityTV declared David Miller re-elected, stating that she’ll wait to see further results.
8:00 PM: CityTV declares David Miller and Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion re-elected.
8:00 PM: POLLS CLOSED
Crash The Mayoral Candidate Parties!
Stephen Ledrew: Pilot Tavern, 22 Cumberland St.
David Miller: Steam Whistle Brewery, 255 Bremner Blvd.
Jane Pitfield: 522 King St. W.
wardmap.jpg
Where Mayoral Candidates Live
Stephen Ledrew: St. Paul’s (Ward 21)
David Miller: Parkdale-High Park (Ward 14)
Jane Pitfield: Don Valley West (Ward 26)

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Comments

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    I just voted!
    I think Miller’s going to comfortably win – it’s by how much that I’m curious about.

  • John Duncan

    About to rush down to my polling station to vote!
    I really do think you should have a colour and label for Shaun Bruce up there too… all advance polling seems to suggest he’ll be pulling in about as much as LeDrew.
    Or change at least change LeDrew’s from a green line to a green eybrow. ;)

  • Marc Lostracco

    When I went to vote (Ward 27), the tables were full of people filling-out the pink forms. Everyone present had voter information cards, but many of our names were not on the official list. A quick form to fill out and otherwise all went well, but who knows what went wrong there. Anyone else have something go wrong at their polling station?

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    All was clear for me. Turns out that I’m registered to vote in two areas of the city – I was on the voter’s list in Ward 13 (where my voter information card got sent to) and downtown, in Ward 27 (where I actually voted today).

  • jerrold
  • Marc Lostracco

    I had my thumb over my photo when showing my ID, but I don’t think photo-ID is required; just any ID with the address on it.
    I could not stand those ridiculous miniature cardboard boxes where we’re allegedly supposed to cast our votes inside. Nobody at my polling station was using them because they were way too small. Everyone was just filling-out their ballots on the table.

  • rek

    I voted! Nobody in my building received a voting card, and all the ones we got were from people who hadn’t lived there in years. I filled out a form but didn’t show any photo ID.
    The little box screen + table that doesn’t reach my waist = I’m not bothering with this box, I don’t care who sees my ballot.

  • John Duncan

    Well, there weren’t enough arrows pointing to my polling place and I was required to walk into a slightly forbidding looking alley.
    I did get the pleasant surprise of discovering that I was actually on the list, as were the other 4 people eligible at my address (my brother didn’t vote because he’s a loser and my parents didn’t because they’re voting in Guelph-Eramosa) despite only one of us receiving a voter’s card.
    The staff were friendly and very helpful.
    And I wasn’t sure what to make of the little paper boothes… they were much too cramped and small to be of any use as a screen, and the top section made them quite dark inside. But they would make a nice hat. Because of the smallness of the boothes no one was using them, and thanks to the layout of the area I could easily see the ballot of everyone else around me. Which isn’t good, but is also far from disasterous.
    All in all, an alright experience that could use some improvement.

  • Marc Lostracco

    I noticed that the yellow plastic arrow signs at Jarvis & Wellesley (not where I voted) were there this morning when I went to work and missing when I walked by again on the way home. The door to enter the polling area is small and unremarkable, so I’m sure a few people will be confused when trying to find it.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    John, I also had trouble finding the right place to vote, too – even though I knew the building, there’s a specific entrance you have to go through that I had to walk around a bit to find. There was way less clear signage than with the federal election, but, you’re right, it’s no big disaster.
    Also, each household only gets one voting card, which might explain why only you got one, but everyone else at your address still was on the list.
    And I do like the idea of a voting booth hat.

  • Robyn

    I voted at one of the stations in Ward 8 with the policemen, so they were more vigilant –I had to hand over photo ID and proof and address.

  • Gloria

    Every household only gets one voting card? What do you mean? We have four eligible voters at my house, and we all received cards … so I’m confused.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    I may have this confused with something else I got in the mail recently, but I’m pretty sure that there was something I got with the Voter Identification Card that said “Follow these instructions carefully and don’t lose them; only one card is given per household.” How ironic that I lost that information.
    I know that I only recieved one card delivered to my home. My “household” has two eligible voters living there, and the card had my name on it – even though I’m the youngest resident.

  • http://www.delineated.com Carrie

    I walked about 50 steps from my front door to vote, which was nice. However, I got there and my name wasn’t on the voters list…the guy seemed totally confused as to why that was, and seemed hesitant to even let me vote at first! He even asked me if I knew the other person at my address. Filled out the form and all was well. We seemed to have a little more privacy than at other stations, by the sound of it…the box thingies and another bigger shield, and the desks were placed a reasonable distance apart.

  • Gloria

    Hmm, I see. Odd.
    Also: The Star is already reporting a Miller victory?

  • Gary

    City TV called a Miller victory at 8:01, with about 4,000 votes counted. They got Jane Pitfield on the screen and asked her about her loss and she was confused: “It’s 8:01, what are you talking about? I’m going to wait until some votes are counted.”

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    “Jane Pitfield visibly surprised that CityTV declared David Miller re-elected, stating that she’ll wait to see further results.”
    Hahahaha.

  • John Duncan

    Global’s declared a victory for Miller too. He had around 18,000 or 55% of the recorded vote.

  • steve

    This is the first time in years that I have not been able to vote.
    It’s the one thing about moving to the other side of the world that sucks… not being able to vote.
    Thanks to Torontoist for letting me at least follow along while at work.

  • jerrold

    Hey Marc, Pitfield’s “party” is at 522 King W, not 22 :)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    Instead of declaring a victor, can we declare a loser? Pitfield’s getting rocked.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    Speak of the devil – bye Pitfield!

  • John Duncan

    Wow… the opinion polls were just about right on as to the results. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
    But Rob Ford and Case Ootes cruising to reelection I am sure about… it’s not a good thing.
    Also a big booyaka to Pitfield’s self-rockage.

  • rek

    Smell the democracy! Too bad only 1 in 10 eligible voters voted for the guy who got over 50% of the votes.
    “We will apparently have Howard Moscoe to kick around for 4 more years…” — Citytv

  • Andy

    Great, 4 more years of excuses. Not that Pitfield was any better.

  • John Duncan

    It looks like Mihevc has won quite handily too…
    JOE MIHEVC 6698 56.395%
    JOHN SEWELL 2737 23.045%
    JOHN ADAMS 2309 19.441%
    TONY CORPUZ 133 1.12%
    Looks like the streetcar ROW has a fair bit of support.
    P.S. The City’s election website is pretty great… live results for every single race, updating every 30 seconds or so. http://app.toronto.ca/epr/elections_portal.jsp

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    John, the City of Toronto’s website isn’t working for me. Can anyone tell me how Parkdale/High Park and & Toronto Centre-Rosedale is doing?

  • http://www.delineated.com Carrie

    You’re doing an awesome job, Marc. Thank jebus that MT is working properly right now, eh? ;)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    8:43 PM: Pitfield: Last three years the most frustrating experience of my life; it was a waste of time.
    ….
    8:28 PM: Pitfield says the election was one of the best experiences of her life.

    Now that’s ambivalence – and fifteen minutes apart, no less!

  • rek

    Ok, I guess it’s more than 1 in 10.

  • John Duncan

    David, it’s not working for me at the moment either, unfortunately. It just sits there trying to load. I think all the refreshes are a bit too much for their server to handle.
    But as of about 10 minutes ago, Ward 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale had 63% for Pam McConnell with 10-11% for Bortenstein and everyone else huddling around 4-7%.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    Found it:
    Rae’s pretty much got the downtown vote (56%, next closest competitor has less than 10%), while it’s kind of close in Ward 13 (Saundercook’s got 43.291%
    Greg Hamara’s got 30.21%) and even closer in Ward 14 (Gord Perks has 30.451%, Rowena Santos has 23.164%, Ted Lojko has 14.691%, and John Colautti has 13.155%).

  • http://funkaoshi.com ramanan

    With 30 of 31 Wards reporting, Ward 18 looks to have gone to Adam Giambrone:
    ADAM GIAMBRONE — 5719 — 66.554%
    SIMON WOOKEY — 2014 — 23.438%
    JIM MCMILLAN — 281 — 3.27%
    LLOYD FERGUSON — 255 — 2.968%
    NHA LE — 238 — 2.77%
    JIM RAWLING — 86 — 1.001%

  • John Duncan

    The current Vaughan mayoral results are tight to say the least… Di Biase has 1791 and Jackson has 1775, with 25 of 130 polls reporting.

  • lyn_zee

    Ward 29 – goooooo Diane!!! (with 2 polls to go)
    ALEXOPOULOS, Diane 5,152 47.0%
    OOTES, Case (x) 4,972 45.4%
    JAMES, Andrew 471 4.3% W
    WILSON, Hamish 159 1.5%
    RICHARDSON, John 113 1.0%
    SMITH, Darryl 90 0.8%
    (x) indicates the incumbent candidate

  • Jay

    29/32 Reporting in Ward 29. If it continues, bike lanes for everyone!
    DIANE ALEXOPOULOS — 5152 — 47.02%
    CASE OOTES — 4972 — 45.377%
    ANDREW JAMES — 471 — 4.299%
    HAMISH WILSON — 159 — 1.451%
    JOHN RICHARDSON — 113 — 1.031%
    DARRYL SMITH — 90 — 0.821%

  • Jay

    ah, beat me to it.

  • steve

    Beat me to it too!
    Go Diane!

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    This is really nerdy to say, but I’m kind of excited about the city getting more money through those “additional revenue-raising initiatives.”

  • steve

    David: Nerdy is good. Toronto needs the funding. It has been starved for too long.

  • Fleury Park

    wow. phyllis morris sacks tim jones in aurora. what was becoming a long, bad joke has finally come to a fold. morris is an absolute wonder. i’ve no doubt if she were city-based, she’d be lauded as one of the finest and most daring candidates of the last twenty years. jones was content to turn aurora into a miniature, almost more soulless (if that’s even possible) version of oakville. glad he’s gone and ecstatic she’s in. maybe the middle and working classes of the city above richmond hill will have some sounds in their gullets again.

  • http://www.takethetooker.ca Ben Wendt

    to Case: and stay out!
    Good riddance, jackass.

  • John Duncan

    Wow… this election has actually turned out really well for the forces of progress! Case Ootes out on the Danforth, some of the worst mayors out in the 905, and in a race close to my heart Karen Farbridge has retaken Guelph from the absolutely dreadful Kate Quarrie (in my view, one of the worst mayors in the history of southern Ontario) and turfed many of the worst councillors there too.
    Definitely reason to celebrate! :)

  • jerrold

    Kudos, Lostracco. That was some great live blog style coverage! I had CTV live streaming online, CP24 on the TV, the city’s results page on F5, and torontoist all on at the same time.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Thanks, Jerrold. It was frantic typage! Because the comments get sent to me imediately, I was getting them in a popup window as I was blogging and it was really cool hearing everyone’s realtime comments. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
    Let us know if liveblogging is something you’d like to see more of in the future.

  • http://funkaoshi.com ramanan

    Ootes WON by 20 votes. What the fuck. I hope that is a mistake when tallying up the votes.

  • steve

    WARD 29 TORONTO-DANFORTH 32/32
    CASE OOTES 5790 46.27
    DIANE ALEXOPOULOS 5770 46.11
    ANDREW JAMES 518 4.14
    HAMISH WILSON 183 1.46
    JOHN RICHARDSON 137 1.09
    DARRYL SMITH 114 0.91
    Shit! I imagine there will be a re-count and probably a court case…
    20 votes is a tiny margin. Let’s see if Ootes can see this as a warning and smarten up (not likely).

  • Marc Lostracco

    This is why it’s frustrating when people don’t vote. It’s often the younger crowd that doesn’t bother, but these are the people that could have booted bike-lane-hatin’ Case Ootes and they’re also probably the people most likely to need or use bike lanes. Tsk.
    If people are reading who chose not to vote tonight, I’m curious to hear the reasons why. Too busy? Disillusioned? Didn’t know who to vote for? Let us know!

  • andrew

    From the City’s Ward profile for Ward 14:
    Ward 14 was home to 54,835 people and consisted of 25,275 households in 2001.
    From the City’s election results:
    12661 total voters, for City Councillor in Ward 14.
    583,972, total, for Mayor, across Toronto
    2,481,494, population of the City, from StatsCan.
    Is this bad or good, in terms of voter turnout?

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstopping David Topping

    Andrew, it’s worth pointing out that that there are 1.4 million eligible voters, not 2.5 million – which makes it a less-paltry 41% turnout (compared to an embarrassing 23%). The number of people living in a ward (or the city) is always different than the number of eligible voters; anyone under 18 counts as a person, as do non-Canadian-citizens, but neither group can vote.

  • http://www.torontoist.com Boy Reporter

    Ugh… just crunched the numbers and looked at the results and honestly not much changed at all. We didn’t really gain or lose any progressives. We lost Chow but got Vaughan and Perks.
    Lost Gay Cowbourne who’s better than Moeser (ugh, he’s back) but not by too much. Paul “I’m a rat lying opportunistic bastard” Ainslie got in. Case Ootes probably got in although I’m waiting to see the recount. Palacio beat out Alejandra Bravo.
    So council hasn’t changed too much. Oh well. I could think of many things worse than four years with this council.

  • james

    What I find truly fascinating in all of this, is that Kevin Clarke got over 2000 votes. This means that there are at least 2000 people in this city who would like to elect the guy who took a shit on the queen street sidewalk while i waited for a streetcar in the spring.

  • Marc Lostracco

    The 41% turnout was actually much higher than I expected, which is a great sign. Jane Pitfield told reporters last night that she feels the race between her and Miller would have been closer if the turnout was better.
    As for Kevin Clarke, he’s either got protest votes or got tongue-in-cheek support from the locals that know him from seeing him living on the street. Or he was at the top of the voting form. He did draw some attention to the issues faced by the homeless over his runs for mayor.

  • http://cork2toronto.eircom.net Mark Dowling

    *puts up lonely hand that’s glad the NDP putsch against Ootes failed*
    *also happy that Vaughan comfortably beat Kennedy*
    *even more happy that Mihevc saw off Sewell*
    *completely befuddled that LeDrew is STILL not part of the “rest of the field” – how do you get third billing with 1.4%???
    talk of court cases etc – what are you guys, Republicans?
    find an Alexopoulos to beat Ford – Ootes doesn’t like bike lanes, Ford gets drunk and abusive.

  • Gloria

    ONE guy mentioned a court case, and only casually? Dude, settle down.

  • rek

    At least when you’re stuck with a councillor you don’t like, you can still fight them on their hairbrained schemes to gate laneways or install robots to vapourize loiterers.

  • rek

    Was the map graphic meant to update too?

  • Marc Lostracco

    I don’t particularly dislike Pitfield, but she was nowhere near experienced to take on a mayoral race and I think it was her sometimes ridiculous statements that widened the gap.
    Another one from last night when she was talking about why she doesn’t fit into politics: “I’m not a politician; I’m a humanitarian.” Which, undoubtedly, is why she’s now planning to have a private career in big business. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
    Mark Dowling: Ledrew was included in our map and as a “third” in most of the media coverage mainly because he was high-profile, at the debates, and a strong figure, among other reasons.
    rek: I wanted to update the map as the night went on with which area was declared or a tight race, but I was having to type too much. Next time!

  • http://cork2toronto.eircom.net Mark Dowling

    Marc – with due respect why would we read Torontoist if it’s just going to follow the lead of the major outlets?
    To put it in perspective, John Nunziata got 5.2% even though he was (rightly) marginalised early in the 2003 vote.
    I realise it’s your trainset, just some reader feedback :)
    As for Ootes-Alexopoulos – I note the Globe on one of its pages list Alexopoulos as the winner. I just don’t get the North American obsession with declaring winners (and then sometimes “undeclaring” as I understand happened to Ootes at one point) before a final announcement from the returning officer. In Ireland and the UK media outlets might “project” but wouldn’t dare “declare”.

  • Marc Lostracco

    Mark: I totally agree about not understanding the apparent prestige of media declaring a winner (especially CityTV being so proud to instantly declare David Miller at the second the polls closed).
    As for Torontoist’s coverage, one of the best parts of live-blogging it is having the immediate feedback from the readers in the comments. Maybe we’ll call on you for some live commentary next time. We love hearing from readers, positive and (constructively) negative — It could be cool to get some readers involved in future events like this.

  • rek

    I can understand reporting that surveys conducted for the station predict who will win, but opening with that prediction as a declaration is crass. Being a democracy and all, maybe they should let the votes determine who wins, and then announce the winner.