UPDATE: Anthony Sernick will be the next mayor of Estevan.
Unofficial results show Sernick captured 1,254 votes, edging Rebecca Foord, who had 1,106. Zacch Vandenhurk was third with 317.
Sernick and Foord both ran for mayor for the first time after spending the past four years as city councillors. Vandenhurk was running for council for the first time.
Sernick replaces Mayor Roy Ludwig, who has been in the role since 2012 and on council since 1994. Ludwig did not seek re-election this time.
In the race for the six councillor spots, Shelly Veroba had 2,175 votes to finish first in the councillor race for the third straight election. She will be joined by Kirsten Walliser, who was second with 1,992 votes, Brian Johnson (1,762), Dave Elliott (1,464), Tom Mauss (1,233) and Matthew Dubowski (1,048). The other candidates were Robin Wog (995), Stephen Daniel (919), Rhyan Hagel (783) and Kevin Andrew (629).
Veroba and Walliser were incumbent councillors. Johnson was on council from 2000 until he was defeated in 2016. Elliott, Mauss and Dubowski will be in their first term on council.
A non-binding plebiscite on whether to build a third ice surface in Estevan was also on the ballot. It was defeated, with 1,538 voting no and 1,046 in favour of the arena.
Results are expected to be declared official early Thursday afternoon.
The main polling station, located at the Estevan Church of God, was expected to close at 8 p.m., but it ran out of ballots due to the number of voters, so those who were at the church to vote by 8 p.m. were still allowed to cast their ballot. The last vote was submitted at around 8:15 p.m.
Drive-thru polling stations were at the Estevan Fire Rescue Service building and Sudz Zone Car Wash on election day. The city also had advanced polls on Oct. 29 and 30, and a drive-thru polling station at the fire hall on Nov. 2. Mail-in ballots were also an option this year.
Candidates, their supporters and others were at city hall Wednesday evening to await the results. The unofficial results were tabulated just before 9 p.m., thanks to the electronic polling stations used by the city for elections since a 2014 byelection.
The Mercury and Â鶹´«Ã½AV will continue to have coverage of the civic election in Estevan and elsewhere in the southeast.
