Chatsworth results aired on CFOS before township released any
Bayshore Broadcasting says a guest's on-air Chatsworth results were likely misinterpreted from the township's website. The township has not posted any vote counts.
By David Ellis · · 2 min read
Chatsworth election results were reported on CFOS's live results show on Monday night before the Township of Chatsworth had released any vote counts. Bayshore Broadcasting, which owns CFOS, says it regrets the error.
During the Oct. 26 broadcast, a guest named Shawn Greig as mayor, Diana Rae as deputy mayor, and J.D. Ceaser, Barry Leonard Jackson and Margie Stafford as councillors. These are not confirmed results. No winners have been announced in any Chatsworth race.
What the township has posted
As of 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, the township's election results page listed every candidate for mayor, deputy mayor and council but showed no vote counts. The page says the clerk will certify the results by Oct. 27.
What Bayshore said
Ian Solecki, assistant general manager of Bayshore Broadcasting, told the Banner in an email at 10:56 p.m.:
"During our live results show, one of our guests reported results for Chatsworth which we believe were misinterpreted from reading the Township's website. We regret the error and are still working to confirm unofficial results for Chatsworth before anything further is reported on our newscasts or online platforms. We will be retracting the earlier remarks in our subsequent broadcasts."
He added: "All of our reported results are considered unofficial at this time."
The five names aired on CFOS match the first name listed in the mayor and deputy mayor races and every second name in the council race on the township's results page, rows the page displays in the same colour. That page was last modified at 10:26 a.m. on Oct. 26, before polls closed, and shows no vote counts. This is consistent with Bayshore's statement that the guest misinterpreted the township's website.
The Banner's correction
The Banner briefly showed the figures aired on CFOS as a projection on its election results dashboard. They have since been removed, and the dashboard now says: "An earlier projection reported on CFOS was removed because it could not be confirmed with the township." A Banner Facebook post that carried the projection has been corrected with the same note.
The Banner asked Chatsworth CAO/Clerk Rachel Anstett when the count finished and whether results were released to anyone before they were posted. She had not responded by publication time.
The Banner will report Chatsworth's results once the township posts them.
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