FALL RIVER: Students at local schools had the outcome of the 2016 HRM municipal election nearly all correct.
Beaver Bank-Kinsac Elementary; Oldfield Consolidated; Ash Lee Jefferson; and Musquodoboit Rural High were the local schools in District 1 (Waverley-Fall River-Musquodoboit Valley) and District 14 (Upper/Middle Sackville-Lucasville-Beaver Bank) to participate in StudentVote.
In District 14, students chose incumbent Brad Johns to earn re-election with 271 votes, followed By Lisa Blackburn at143 votes. Kevin Copley with 123 votes was third.
In reality, Blackburn earned the job over Johns.
At Beaver Bank-Kinsac School, Copley and Johns tied at 23 votes, while Blackburn only had six.
For mayor, Lil MacPherson had 10 votes while Mike Savage garnered zero votes.
At Millwood High, Johns had 132 votes, Blackburn 101, and Copley 64 votes. Savage had 319 ballots cast in his name with MacPherson having just 49.
There were a couple other schools took part in this vote for District 14.
For District 1, students at Oldfield, Musquodoboit Rural, and Ash Lee Jefferson said Streatch would be the winner of the election, with 120 votes earning the right to represent them. Colin Castle was second at 110 votes.
Carrolls Corner vet Trevor Lawson had 81 votes, while Cathy Deagle-Gammon sat fourth with a recorded 22 votes. Alison McNair, with 19, and Steve Sinnott with 17, rounded out the six candidates vying to replace Barry Dalrymple.
The actual result had Streatch beating Deagle-Gammon.
At Oldfield School, Castle had 21 votes to win over Streatch with 15 and Lawson 13. Deagle-Gammon had eight votes, Sinnott five and McNair none.
At Musquodoboit Rural High School (MRHS), Streatch garnered 82 votes to Castle’s 57 votes. Lawson had 44; McNair eight; Sinnott six and Deagle-Gammon three.
There were no votes for Savage or MacPherson as mayor.
For students at Ash Lee Jefferson, Castle won with 30 votes, while Streatch nipped Lawson 22-21 for second. Deagle-Gammon was third at 11 votes, McNair had 10 votes and Sinnott five.
Savage won for Mayor over MacPherson by just five votes 52-47.
In total, students in HRM had a consensus answer as to who they wanted for mayor—Mike Savage. He earned 4,110 of the 5,564 votes cast to that of challenger Lil MacPherson.
StudentVote took place across Nova Scotia with students voting on who they thought would win. In most cases the candidates running in each area visited the schools participating, providing a brief presentation to the students. The students voted on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14.
Results were released following the close of actual municipal election polls on Oct. 15.
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com
