CIVIC ELECTION – Where the Kamloops candidates won, and where they lost

Mike O’Reilly may as well have been declared elected after the very first polling station reported in with its results last Saturday night (Oct. 17, 2026).

While election-night analysts are usually reluctant to predict the outcome until late in the evening (“It’s early yet” is a favourite comment), history shows mayoralty results tend to be very consistent from one polling station to another. The mayor-elect usually tops every polling station, and that’s what happened with O’Reilly.

There were 19 polling stations, included advanced and special polls, and O’Reilly was easily on top in every one of them.

Results weren’t nearly as predictable in the race for the eight councillor seats, however. While the top three vote getters — Rob Bertrand, Jesse Ritcey and Katie Neustaeter — received fairly consistent support, the middle and bottom of the pack spent the night biting their nails as their poll totals shifted up an down.

In the election for five city school board seats, Cole Hickson easily outdistanced his 15 competitors in every poll.

Unfortunately, the City didn’t release poll-by-poll results as they came in on election night, grouping several unidentified polls together under each release. Full poll-by-poll stats have now been revealed.

There are two important attributes to polling stations that make them interesting to follow: one is population size and the other is geographical location.

Polling stations with large populations quite often prove decisive for council candidates, turning the tide against trends in less populated polls. Top vote getter for council Rob Bertrand, for example, did well at every polling station but it was the big stations such as Brocklehust, Arthur Stevenson and the advance polls that got him over the top.

There was a clear split in results from North Shore and South Shore polls as well. Bertrand didn’t top polls such as Juniper Ridge and Lloyd George, but nailed it in NorKam. Neustaeter, who ended up in third place, did much better on the South Shore than on the North.

Incumbent Nancy Bepple, who finished ninth and out of the running, edged out the eventual eighth-place finisher Randy Sunderman in Arthur Stevenson, Beattie, and the Heritage House advance poll but Sunderman turned the tables in Brocklehurst, Westmount and the McArthur Island advance.

— Mel Rothenburger.