Advanced Voting Day has arrived in Ucluelet as the town will soon pick a new municipal councillor.
Advanced voting is scheduled for June 18 with polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ucluelet Community Centre—500 Matterson Drive. General Election Day is scheduled for Saturday, June 28.
Back in February, the district announced Coun. Ian Kennington was resigning from his council seat and planned to move away from the community and the town is now set to replace him.
Four locals have put their names forward for the seat: Todd Evalina, Myles Morrison, Trevor Jones and Mayco Noel.
An all Candidates Forum was hosted by the Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce on June 12 and livestreamed by UkeeTube.
“I know them all and I could certainly work with any of the four people who have put their names forward,” Ucluelet mayor Marilyn McEwen told the Westerly News.
Four candidates running for one vacant seat in this byelection makes for a noticeably more crowded race than 2022’s general election that saw four candidates being acclaimed to Ucluelet’s four council seats.
McEwen speculated the increased competition may be due to the shorter time commitment as the winner of June 28’s byelection will be committed to a term that ends on Oct. 17, 2026, rather than signing on for a full 4-year term.
“I wasn’t surprised because there is such a short duration left in this term,” she said of the number of candidates running this time around. “It will really give someone a good sense of getting their feet wet and seeing if they actually enjoy the job before putting their name forward for a four-year term. A 4-year-term and a 1-year-term and completely different things,” she said.
McEwen served two terms on council before running for the mayor’s seat in 2022 and cautioned the candidates about the amount of work that will be required of the winner.
“It is a fairly big time commitment. There’s a lot of reading to do, a lot of research to do and a lot of meetings to go to. I think that’s why, traditionally, municipal councils have been comprised of a lot of retired people, because they have the time to do the job,” she said.
She added outgoing Coun. Kennington’s voice will be missed by council.
“He will be hard to replace because his career was based in the building community and, of course, 90 per cent of what we make decisions on at the council table is land-use; a lot has to do with buildings and rezonings and variances and he was so knowledgeable in that field because that was his area of expertise,” she said. “We really did, kind of, rely on him a lot to help us make good decisions in that area.”
She said she looks forward to operating with a full five-member slate on council and noted that operating with an even number of votes can be tricky.
“Here’s a fun fact: if there is a tie vote for any reason, the vote fails. It’s defeated. That’s why councils are always made up of an uneven number of people,” she said.
She encourages all residents to make sure to cast a ballot on either the advanced or general voting days.
“Voting is a right that was fought for for a long time, especially for women, so I think it’s a right that we should all exercise,” she said.
