Sooke recount leaves five-vote council margin unchanged.
Elliot Lifton keeps the final council seat. The district's posted results confirm Kevin Pearson as mayor.
Sooke's recount has left the winners unchanged, according to a results notice now public on the district's website.
Elliot Lifton retains the sixth council seat with 2,177 votes, five ahead of Helen Ritts at 2,172. Kevin Pearson is confirmed as mayor with 3,141 votes to Al Beddows' 2,307.
Herb Haldane, Rob Pearce, Katherine Strongwind, Janet Evans and Curtis Peterec join Lifton on council.
The district says manual review identified five ballots containing six selections that required adjudication. It attributes the discrepancy to incompletely filled voting circles, rather than malfunctioning counting equipment. The adjustments added votes to five candidates without changing who was elected.
Source note: The district's notice carries an October 21, 2026 dateline. It was publicly accessible when The Westshore checked on October 20. These figures reflect that posted notice.
