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......From The Finish Line
12:15 p.m. The speeches are over. Now, the voting begins.
Somebody hacks into the system, and it shuts the system down. It's about 12:30 p.m. that this happens. This is why the voting line is stuck, going nowhere. The voting machine system eventually gets restored after about an hour. But, how many people at home, or even at Convention, got frustrated and went elsewhere? Maybe off to get their Saturday shopping done? Well, I guess the system worked like it was supposed to. It shut down the system. The voting was not corrupted. It must have been a Tory. . .
It turns out that 40,000 members have voted ahead of time. I am glad I was one of them. Sure, I do much of our riding association's computer work. Maybe that's why I don't trust computers all that much. On Convention Day, there are about 4,000 votes, and 1,000 at the Convention centre itself. There might have been more if the computers hadn't been hacked. Sounds to me like security in our small corner of the world is not yet perfect. It's a metaphor for these times.
At 3:17:41, all voting stops.
About 3:32 p.m., the Blaikie crowd in the bleachers just beside us starts chanting. "Blaikie! Blaikie!" That stirs up the Comartin crowd seated in the bleachers next to them. "Let's Go Joe!"
This wakes up yours truly who is dozing in his chair, trying to recover from the Layton party last night where he has stayed up too late, eaten too much hummus, and taken too much rum-and-coke. That crowd certainly knew how to party. Better than I did, anyway.
The Layton crowd on the far side of the auditorium starts counter chanting and it quickly moves down to the Toronto Section on the main floor. I can't really hear what they are saying. It's too far away, and I can't really make it out through the general noise in the auditorium.
The Ducasse bunch starts up, beside the Layton bleacher. And now, the Nystrom mob begins on the other side of the Layton bleacher.
People begin to flood back onto the Convention floor from wherever they have been waiting, doing whatever they have been doing. But. . . nothing happens. No announcements yet. So, everyone gradually calms down. People are standing around talking to each other.
The Blaikie crowd cannot stand this anymore. They start up with "Go With Bill!", ending with a cheer.
Joe Comartin, I see, has joined his people in their bleacher. They begin "Go With Joe!". One bleacher over, I hear "Blaikie! blaikie!". And so it goes in the bleachers around the auditorium floor.
Nothing more happens. No announcement. It is quiet except for occasional outbursts from the Comartin and Blaikie crowds in their bleachers over on my side of the auditorium.
I decide to go back to dozing in my chair.
Finally. At 4:03 p.m. Excitement!
A speaker goes to the stage microphone, only to announce there will be a further 10 minute delay. Groans go up from the auditorium floor. The speaker tries to fill in. He welcomes the "viewer centres" tuned in around the country. These include a centre in Vancouver, I think, called "Digital Democracy", and also one in Alberta called "I Can't Believe I Missed My Flight To Toronto". A burst of laughter goes up from the floor.
Silence again. I go back to dozing fitfully in my chair.
Suddenly, the vote announcement begins. Gayle wants me to write down the results so they can figure out the percentages.
One of the announcements on the screen. "The successful candidate will have 29,101.3333 votes, making 50% + 1% of the total vote.".
I sit there scribbling furously as a steelworker dictates the numbers flashing up on the screen on the stage. . .
Labour Vote -- (already weighted) 58,202.6667
(Some wag wonders about this number. Has there been an industrial accident? Laughter around us.)
Total Eligible Voters -- 44,707
Spoiled Votes -- 98
| CANDIDATE |
TOTALS |
% OF TOTAL |
|---|
| Meslo |
645.2268 |
1.1086% |
| Ducasse |
2,154.7694 |
3.7022 |
| Comartin |
4,490.1522 |
7.7147 |
| Nystrom |
5,397.156 |
9.2730 |
| Blaikie |
14,365.4121 |
24.6817 |
Someone around me shouts, "He's got it! He's got it!" And then, the final total!
| CANDIDATE |
TOTALS |
% OF TOTAL |
|---|
| Layton |
31,149.9502 |
51.5198 |
4:35 p.m. -- LAYTON WINS! On the first ballot!
There is a huge explosion of noise all over the auditorium! Everyone is cheering and yelling at the top of their lungs! There are disappointed faces from the Blaikie supporters around me from the Sault. So, I have to be a bit careful here, and respect their disappointment . . .
But then . . . a heavy drum beat crescendo begins and the music starts . . . "It's time, to get all the people together . . ." Everyone begins clapping in rhythm, Layton supporters surely, but others as well. It doesn't matter. We are all New Democrats, and in spite of those perfectly natural feelings of disappointment which come with the frustration of 7 months of hard work lost, we all know in our hearts that this result looks so good!
To elect a new leader cleanly, on the first ballot! And so, we move into a new era in the history of the NDP.
--glenn humphreys