The polls spoke otherwise in a what seemed like a very close race for the mayor's chair in Sooke.
Tait handily won with exactly twice as many votes as her opponent Herb Haldane. Tait had 2,527 votes to Haldane's 1,263. Distant runner David Shebib racked up 26 votes.
Tait will fill her responsibilities with her new council which consists of : Incumbent Kerrie Reay (2,171 votes), Ebony Logins (2,116), Brenda Parkinson (2,034), Incumbent Kevin Pearson (1,870), Incumbent Rick Kasper (1,847) and Incumbent Bev Berger (1,807).
Jeff Bateman came in with 1,783 votes, Kel Phair with 1,430, Mark Whiteson 1,031 and Justin Hanson garnered 1,029 votes.
Both of the referendum questions were passed with 3,072 "yes" votes for the question, "Would you support the District of Sooke working with the community to develop multi-use community centre facilities?" There were 631 votes against.
The question: "Should the District of Sooke join other municipalities in renewing and restating its opposition to the expansion of oil tanker traffic through Coastal BC waters?" There were 2,618 "yes" votes and 1,137 "no" votes.
In her victory speech Tait thanked all of her volunteers and she said she was looking forward to the next four years as mayor of the District of Sooke.
More details and comments in the November 19 edition of the Sooke News Mirror.