Ousted trustee reclaims seat on Sunrise board

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This article was published 27/12/2019 (2505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Sunrise School Division trustee removed from her post by a Manitoba judge has recaptured the board seat after challengers failed to materialize for a January byelection.

Incumbent Dianne Roeland was the only person who filed candidacy papers before last Wednesday’s deadline, senior election officer Scott Carleton said in a prepared statement.

The school division announced last month it would hold a Jan. 22, 2020 byelection to decide the rightful heir to the board of trustees’ Ward 3 seat.

Roeland was declared the winner in the October 2018 school board general elections, but two months later, fellow candidate Cory Ford mounted a legal challenge after accidental voting irregularities at a polling station in Cooks Creek came to light.

In an Oct. 22 judgement, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Anne Turner concluded the 66 ineligible votes could have swayed the outcome of the election, which Roeland won by a margin of 31 votes.

Nothing in Turner’s decision prevented Roeland and Ford from running again.

Forgoing the byelection is expected to save the division $5,000 to $7,000.