While the ADFW turnout was healthy this time around with 56,718 of the riding’s 83,587 voters going to the polls, it fell sharply behind that of the January 2006 federal election which saw 62,693, or 77.6 per cent, of the riding’s 80,842 registered electors casting a ballot. Voter turnout across Canada in the last federal election was 64.7 per cent, meaning that the local turnout was 12.9 per cent higher than the national average.

Even though ADFW’s voter turnout in the 2006 federal election was touted as one of the highest in the nation, an Elections Canada media spokesperson Diane Benson said this week she couldn’t confirm if the same can be said this time. as many results are still preliminary. Analysts will be able to make accurate comparisons when official vot- ing results are known in 90 days, she said.

Last Thursday, Al Croxall, ADFW’s returning officer, submitted validated results for the October 14, 2008 federal election to Elections Canada.

The official results vary slightly from the preliminary tallies published in the Review and other local media last week. They are as follows: Conservative David Sweet, 26,297 (46.5 per cent of the vote); Liberal Arlene MacFarlane-VanderBeek, 15,322 (27.1 per cent); NDP candidate Gordon Guyatt, 9,632 (17 per cent); Green Party nominee Peter Ormond, 5,149 (9.1 per cent) and Marxist- Leninist Jamile Ghaddar, 148 (0.3 per cent). Of the 56,718 ballots cast, 170 were rejected.

“The turnout was lighter this time,” said Croxall, who wouldn’t speculate as to what may have caused the decline. However, seeing that the ADFW riding surpassed the national average, he noted: “I think we have a lot of people here who pay attention and are interested in the election and exercise their democratic right.

“I am pleased with the turnout,” he added.

As voters headed to the polls last Tuesday, a new identification protocol was enforced. According to Croxall, implementation of the procedure went smoothly, and didn’t deter people from turning out.

“Everybody knew about it. A very few people found it inconvenient; more people found it a good idea,” he said.

A review of Flamborough poll results, with the exception of the advance polls, showed the following: a total of 13,968 votes were cast in Flamborough, with 36 being rejected, leaving a total of 13,932 valid votes. Of those, 41 votes went to Marxist-Leninist Ghaddar; 2,183 were for NDP candidate Guyatt; 3,281 were for Liberal MacFarlane- VanderBeek; 1,479 went to Green Party candidate Ormond and 6,984 were for Conservative incumbent Sweet.