MARKHAM, ON — October 22, 2018 – In the 2018 Markham Municipal Election, 77,503 eligible voters cast their ballot for City council and school board trustee candidates for the 2018 - 2022 term. Markham has seen the highest online voter turnout with  91 percent of Markham voters casting their ballot online, and a total voter turnout of 38.26 percent, the highest in recent history in Markham.

The City has offered online voting since 2003, and was one of 194 municipalities to offer online voting in the 2018 municipal elections across Ontario. As the largest lower-tier municipality in Canada to offer an online voting program, Markham is a leader in digital democracy in North America.

The City of Markham continues to make voting accessible, convenient and easy for all by offering more hours to vote this year than ever before. In addition to online voting, Markham also provided voters with the traditional paper ballot option during the early voting period.

The successful candidates for each office in the 2018 Markham Municipal Election, as per the unofficial results, are as follows:

Mayor

• Frank Scarpitti

Regional Councillor

• Don Hamilton
• Jack Heath
• Joe Li
• Jim Jones

Councillor - Ward 1

• Keith Irish

Councillor - Ward 2

• Alan Ho

Councillor - Ward 3

• Reid McAlpine

Councillor - Ward 4

• Karen Rea

Councillor - Ward 5

• Andrew Keyes

Councillor - Ward 6

• Amanda Yeung Collucci

Councillor - Ward 7

• Khalid Usman

Councillor - Ward 8

• Isa Lee

York Region District School Board Trustee - Area 2

• Ron Lynn

York Region District School Board Trustee - Area 3

• Allan Tam

York Region District School Board Trustee - Area 4

• Juanita Nathan

York Catholic District School Board Trustee - Area 1

• Carol Cotton

York Catholic District School Board Trustee - Area 2

• James Ecker

The following offices are shared races with other municipalities, and are Markham results only:

York Region District School Board Trustee - Area 1

• David Sherman

Conseil scolaire Viamonde Trustee 

• François Guérin

Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir Trustee 

• Maxime Papillon

View the complete list of the unofficial results at https://bit.ly/2P2ACuU 

Official certified results will be provided later this week by Markham's Returning Officer/City Clerk, including the final results for the shared races.

Key Facts:

• Markham has now offered online voting in five municipal elections (2003, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018) as part of its multi-channel service delivery strategy for voting.

• Markham implemented a robust and creative community engagement strategy - in partnership with Markham Public Library - that educated and encouraged more voters than ever before to exercise their democratic right to vote.

• Casting your vote online is "greener" than the traditional paper ballot and it supports the City's award-winning Building Markham’s Future Together: 2015-2019 Strategic Plan, the Greenprint - Community Sustainability Plan, and its diversity and accessibility initiatives.

• Markham's innovative election model is informed by:

  • The City's innovative Digital Markham Strategy

  • A desire to provide convenient, green, and a fully accessible voting channel to allow persons with disabilities an opportunity to cast a ballot independently;

  • Documented lessons learned from the past four municipal elections;

  • Previous security and risk assessments;

  • Academic research, including jurisdictional scans regarding online voting; and,

  • Extensive post-election feedback from previous online voters in our community.

• One hundred and eleven (111) candidates ran for office, the most in Markham's history.

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For all media inquiries / interview requests for the City of Markham:
Erynn Sally, Media Relations Coordinator at esally@markham.ca or 416-737-2684.