It’s official – Kathleen Carlsen will become New Westminster’s new school trustee.
On Monday afternoon, Mark Brown, chief election officer for School District No. 40 (New Westminster), declared Carlsen to be elected, after receiving the highest number of valid votes for the office of school trustee.
The official results, released Feb. 5, matched those recorded on the evening of the Feb. school board byelection.
Carlsen, who ran with the New Westminster Progressives, topped the polls with 1,628 votes. Jalen Bachra (Community First) was second with 1,390 votes, followed by two independent candidates –Shawn Sorensen with 575 votes and Alejandro Diaz with 355.
According to the official election results, a total of 3,951 ballots were counted, after one was rejected (with no objections).
As part of the byelection, the election office processed 76 new registrations from folks who had not previously been on the voter’s list – 57 on the Feb. 3 voting day, 16 during two advance voting opportunities and three new registrations via mail ballots.
With 55,161 potential voters (including electors on the list of electors as of Dec. 13, 2023 and the new registrations), the 3,952 people who voted represents 7.16 per cent of eligible voters.
