Ella Haley formally assumed her position as the new County of Brant Ward 5 Councillor during the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.
Haley won the seat during a by-election on Monday, October 20, 2025. Voting took place between March 9 to March 16, with Haley receiving 568 votes.
She now joins Councillor Brian Coleman in representing the communities of Cainsville, Langford, Onondaga, Middleport, Mount Pleasant, Scotland, Oakland and Oakhill, and will serve out the remainder of the term until the next municipal election, scheduled for Monday, October 26, 2026.
Following her declaration of elected office and oath of allegiance, Mayor David Bailey welcomed Haley to take her place around the Council horseshoe.
“Welcome Ella, take your seat as the Brant County Councillor for Ward 5,” he said. “It was noted you worked very hard, and I saw your hard work a couple of times, so congratulations.”
Given that the Council has been operating with one vacant seat for just over five months, the swearing-in of Haley means that Council has now returned to its full complement, providing equal representation of all wards for the remainder of the term.
Council later received a report detailing the election results, statistical information, and general findings with regards to the first exclusively internet-based election in the County.
The staff report, submitted by Sunayana Katikapalli, County Clerk and Director of Council Services, shows that this year Ward 5 had a total of approximately 6,945 eligible electors, up from 6,536 in 2022. Of the approximate 6,945 electors, 1,454 Ward 5 residents cast their vote, resulting in a 20.9 per cent voter turnout.
Haley won with 39.9 per cent of the vote. Mike Gatopoulos received 29.3 per cent with 424 votes, Joanne Dorr 17.1 per cent with 247 votes, Greg Anderson 13.8 per cent with 199 votes, and Jeff Johnston 0.6 per cent with eight votes.
The report states that of those 1,454 votes, 1,124 were cast via the internet, 155 via kiosk at the voter assistance centre, and 165 by telephone.
Noting that the County used the by-election as a pilot to test an exclusively internet-based election process for the upcoming municipal election, Ward 2 Councillor Lukas Oakley asked the clerk if they had learned if there was anything that they needed to improve before October.
“This was actually a really good opportunity to test out the system for the main election. Of course, this was on a smaller scale with a smaller ward, especially population wise, but all things considered, with a rural ward where we were concerned about voter turnout, it was very good,” Katikapalli responded. “The only difference between this and the election in the fall, is that the ballot would now include multiple offices and not just for one seat. We’ll also be looking at all the wards. In terms of in-person voter assistance locations, we’re looking at having two locations per ward. ..But the general takeaway was that a lot of skeptics left the election happy. There were obviously just one or two that were still unhappy from what we heard directly, I’m sure there are more out there, but overall, it was a really good election, and we ought to replicate it again for the fall.”
Haley then provided some of her own feedback on the process.
“You could go to a library [to cast your vote], but the Scotland-Oakland library branch was not open on the two election days,” she said. “I also had some 80- and 90-year-olds who were on strike. They did not trust the system and they wanted the old fashioned voting system.”
The report was then received as information.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
