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Duelling candidates Thomas Smith Hewson (left) and William Henry Riddell.
Orangeville’s “Stolen” Election Angry crowds, a mishandled ballot box, cries of voter suppression and a legal challenge rocked the election for Orangeville’s reeve in 1909. BY KEN WEBER
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Riddell ticket, while in the east ward, a mistake had been corrected to give Riddell two votes originally marked for Hewson. This meant the actual winner – and reeve-elect for 1909 – was W.H. Riddell by a margin of two.
An inevitable protest The angry outcry from Hewson’s supporters was no surprise. Although the 1909 municipal election had been a calm affair – Mayor McKitrick was acclaimed and the town’s six councillors along with the deputy reeve had all won in campaigns marked by mutual respect – the contest for reeve had been a boisterous exception. All the ruckus had come from one camp. In an overabundance of confidence, Dr. Riddell, a veterinarian and widely respected horseman, had not bothered to campaign, while Mr. Hewson, a local blacksmith and respected town councillor, had pulled out all the stops, backed by a cadre of raucous supporters who clearly believed he was the better choice. Hewson was not the type to accept a narrow defeat easily, and over the
next few days fact and rumour combined to reinforce a conviction that victory had really been his. A slim two-vote margin automatic ally triggered a recount and the town clerk prepared to act that very night. Over the next few days, three official recounts confirmed Riddell’s slim victory. However, the findings did nothing to quell rumours that voters had been intimidated by aggressive scrutineers (an accusation made by both sides) and that voting booths had been poorly managed. Most controversial was the discovery that the elderly returning officer in charge of the west ward had not turned in the ballot box as protocol required, but had taken it home. Arguably, he had made an innocent mistake, but suspicions were further aroused when it was revealed that two voters from the ward had visited his house late on election night. The incident gave fuel to Hewson’s accusations, not only transforming a close election into a dubious one, but casting a shadow over the entire elected slate as well. In February, as expected, the Hewson camp launched
a challenge that turned the validity of the election into a legal matter.
Do it over! Both parties engaged counsel from Orangeville and Toronto, and both had enough witnesses and affidavits to make for a lengthy and complex hearing. Yet the ruling that came down in mid-May was limited and very specific. Because of the mishandled ballot box, the January 4 election for reeve was declared void, and a new one was ordered. All other elected positions were allowed to stand and – important to the community’s future peace – allegations from both sides about voter suppression and other irregularities were not mentioned. That future peace took a while to materialize. Riddell and Hewson had to be nominated once again for the new election and the public meeting held to accomplish this was marked by unrestrained partisanship. (The chair of the meeting, Dr. Tom Henry Jr., despite the required neutrality of the position, told the noisy crowd he was voting for Riddell!) Ironically,
COURTESY MUSEUM OF DUFFERIN ARCHIVES
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ate in the evening of January 4, 1909 – annual election day – the Orangeville Citizens’ Band led a whooping and hollering crowd through town to the home of Thomas Smith Hewson to tell him the ballots had been counted and he’d been elected reeve. It had been a close shave. Hewson had defeated the incumbent reeve, Dr. William Henry Riddell, by a mere four votes! Still, a win is a win, and from his front porch, a beaming Hewson, caught up in the enthusiasm of his noisy supporters, told the gathering how proud he was to be Orangeville’s new mayor [sic] and handed the Citizens’ Band a five dollar tip. Encouraged by this unexpected generosity, the revellers hurried off to try their luck at the homes of other victors on the slate, leaving Hewson’s supporters to hear a disturbing update from a late arrival. It seems the band had only picked up results from the north and south wards, so were unaware that the returning officer in the west ward had restored two spoiled ballots to the
