Should Peter Sharp seek a judicial recount?

Peter Sharp was surprisingly serene after his near-miss in the Kamloops civic election Saturday night. He lost out for the eighth and final spot on City council to incumbent Jim Harker by 80 votes, so he has a right to be disappointed.

Sharp said after the results came in that, as much as he was hoping to get back on council, it wasn’t as upsetting to him as when he lost out three years ago by a couple of hundred votes.

Yesterday, he said he’s considering asking for a judicial recount. Some people might suggest he’s a sore loser and that he should just live with the outcome, but I don’t agree.

He’s not being a sore loser. Though 80 votes is probably too much to hope to overturn, it’s worthwhile being sure. And, as Sharp says, the electronic voting system adopted by the City for the last election and used again in this one has yet to be challenged.

If the count is found to have been inaccurate, it will have been worth the effort. If it’s found to be 100 percent correct, it will still be worth it to confirm the accuracy of the system.

There are several steps Sharp must go through to actually have a recount carried out, but my guess is he’ll put things in motion before next Monday’s deadline. And I think he’s justified in doing so.

BY THE WAY…. maybe it’s just me but I think it’s important for losing mayoral candidates to show the good manners to show up to congratulate the winner. An unhappy chore, to be sure, but it’s all part of the etiquette. Murphy Kennedy made the trek both to City Hall and to Peter Milobar’s campaign HQ on Saturday night to do the right thing. I never saw Brian Alexander there.