Edmonton municipal election, 1926

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The 1926 municipal election was held December 13, 1926, to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the public school board. Harry Carrigan, J O Pilon, and W D Trainor were acclaimed to two-year terms on the separate school board.

Edmonton City Council governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Contents

There were ten aldermen on city council, but four of the positions were already filled: James East, James Findlay, Frederick Keillor (SS), and A C Sloane were all elected to two-year terms in 1925 and were still in office. James McCrie Douglas (SS) had also been elected in 1925, but had resigned to run for mayor; accordingly, L S C Dineen was elected to a one-year term.

James East Canadian politician

James East was a politician and labour activist in Alberta, Canada. He was for a time and the longest-serving alderman in Edmonton's history, and was a defeated candidate at the provincial and federal levels. He was also an ardent monetary reformer.

James McCrie Douglas Canadian politician

James McCrie Douglas was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of Edmonton, and a member of the House of Commons of Canada.

There were seven trustees on the public school board, but four of the positions were already filled: Ralph Bellamy, Frank Crang (SS), F S MacPherson, and Elmer Roper had all been elected to two-year terms in 1925 and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where R Crossland (SS), Charles Gariepy, Thomas Magee, and A J Ryan were continuing.

Elmer Ernest Roper Canadian politician

Elmer Ernest Roper was a politician in Alberta, Canada. He served as leader of the Alberta Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the mayor of Edmonton, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He was also a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada.

Charles Edward Gariepy was a Canadian politician. He was elected to the separate Catholic school board from 1929-1937. Gariepy was elected to be North side alderman, Edmonton City Council, Alberta, Canada 1940-1948.

The election was conducted using the single transferable vote system.

The single transferable vote (STV) is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through ranked voting in multi-seat organizations or constituencies. Under STV, an elector (voter) has a single vote that is initially allocated to their most preferred candidate. Votes are totalled and a quota derived. If their candidate achieves quota, he/she is elected and in some STV systems any surplus vote is transferred to other candidates in proportion to the voters' stated preferences. If more candidates than seats remain, the bottom candidate is eliminated with his/her votes being transferred to other candidates as determined by the voters' stated preferences. These elections and eliminations, and vote transfers if applicable, continue until there are only as many candidates as there are unfilled seats. The specific method of transferring votes varies in different systems.

Voter turnout

There were 12720 ballots cast out of 35726 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 35.6%.

Results

Strathcona, Alberta Area in Alberta, Canada

Strathcona was a city in Alberta, Canada on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River across from the City of Edmonton.

North Saskatchewan River river in Alberta and Saskatchewan

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with another major river to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventually into the Hudson Bay.

Mayor

PartyCandidateInitial Votes%
Independent Ambrose Bury 4,81637.94%
Labour Dan Knott 2,94423.19%
Civic Government Association Will Werner2,38818.81%
Independent Joseph Clarke 1,72713.61%
Independent James McCrie Douglas 5714.50%
Independent Rice Sheppard 2471.95%

Bury did not win a majority of the votes in the first count so the lowest-ranking candidates had their second choices distributed, and he did win in the end.

Aldermen

PartyCandidateInitial VotesElected
Labour Charles Gibbs 2,107Green check.svgY
Labour Alfred Farmilo1,510Green check.svgY
Independent Charles Robson1,458Green check.svgY
Civic Government Association Herbert Baker 1,287Green check.svgY
Civic Government Association Robert Dolphin Tighe1,107
Civic Government Association George Hazlett1,009Green check.svgY
Civic Government Association Robert Muir980
Civic Government Association Charles Henry Grant840
Civic Government Association Norman Currie Willson657
Labour Lionel Shurley Crawford Dineen555Green check.svgY
Labour Edward James Thompson402
Labour Edwin Evart Owen379

Because of the single transferable vote system, although Tighe received more initial votes (although not enough to capture a seat), Dineen won (and Hazlett held) due to votes subsequently transferred from other candidates.

The city clerk's conducting of this STV/PR vote was criticized and the next year the city held a plebiscite on whether to continue using the STV/PR system. [1]

Public school trustees

PartyCandidateVotesElected
Labour Samuel Barnes 3,741Green check.svgY
Civic Government Association Thyrza Bishop2,506Green check.svgY
Civic Government Association D. B. Lake1,710
Civic Government Association W. W. McBain1,528
Labour J A Herlihy1,127SSGreen check.svgY
Labour G. Teviotdale480

Under the minimum South Side representation rule, Herlihy was elected over Lake and McBain. Later McBain challenged Herlihy's election and was given the school board seat.

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

Harry Carrigan, J O Pilon, and W D Trainor were acclaimed.

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References

  1. J. Paul Johnston and Miriam Koene, "Learning History's Lessons Anew" in Bowler and Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta (2000)