May 05, 2011
Clean sweep for Warawa at polls
By Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance May 5, 2011
A voter headed out of the rain and into a polling station at the Langley Secondary gymnasium on Monday morning. A total of 55,132 Langley residents cast their votes on election day.
Photograph by: Troy Landreville, Langley Advance
Mark Warawa didn’t just win the bulk of Langley’s votes – he won at every single polling place, numbers released by Elections Canada show.
The Conservative MP was re-elected with 35,569 votes out of 55,132 cast, for 64.5 per cent of the total votes.
Warawa was victorious in every one of the 193 regular polls, as well as in the advance polls and special polls held in place such as hospitals.
Looking at the results from various neighbourhoods does show that the support was higher or lower depending on where in Langley a ballot was cast.
Warawa was particularly dominant in some parts of the riding. For example, at one Glen Valley polling place, he took 224 votes, to 34 for NDP challenger Piotr Majkowski, 17 for Liberal Rebecca Darnell, 13 for Green Carey Ann Poitras, and one for Pirate Party candidate Craig Nobbs.
If there was a bright spot for Majkowski – who took a total of 20.5 per cent of the vote for second place – it was in Langley City.
While there were many polling places where Warawa took three times the votes of his challengers, there were a few where the NDP did relatively well.
In polling place 97, Warawa took 65 votes to Majkowski’s 57. In polling place 98, it was 66 votes to 65, respectively.
The two ridings, the high water mark for the NDP in Langley, are located in a rectangle bounded by 54th and 50th Avenues, and between 203rd and 204th Streets.
Even polling places close together geographically could have relatively different results.
At poll 56 in the Willowbrook/Willoughby slope area, Majkowski took 58 votes to Warawa’s 87, a much closer result than in most areas. However at the adjacent poll 57, Warawa was again dominant, taking 112 votes to Majkowski’s 30.
Warawa also clobbered his opponents at the advance polls, which drew a strong turnout this year.
It seems that local Conservative supporters were very eager to vote early this year, as he took close to 75 per cent of the vote at some of those polls.
Overall voter turnout was 62.2 per cent in Langley, slightly above the national average of 61.4 per cent.
With the results finalized, the Elections Canada office at the corner of 202nd Street and 64th Avenue is getting ready to pack up.
Returning officer Patrick Lucier said that all the candidates and the community helped ensure a harmonious and professional election process.
“I’d really like to thank all the people of Langley who stepped up to the plate to help us run this election,” he said.
Almost 1,100 people were hired and trained to staff the 193 regular polls, as well as mobile and advance polls that brought the total to 265.
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