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Who’s running in the election in Cowichan Valley?

There are 35 local seats up for grabs in the municipal elections
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There are three candidates running for mayor of North Cowichan in the municipal elections on Oct. 15 as of the deadline for nominations on Sept. 9.

They are current councillors Rob Douglas and Rosalie Sawrie and former councillor John Koury.

Peter Morris had signed nomination paper to run for mayor, but has dropped out of the race.

Current Mayor Al Siebring is not running for re-election.

There are 15 running for the six council seats in the municipality, including incumbents Christopher Justice, Tek Manhas, Kate Marsh, and Debra Toporowski.

Other candidates include former councillor Joyce Behnsen, Dana Arthurs, Charles Borg, Mike Caljouw, Elizabeth Croft, Joseph Enslow, Bruce Findlay, Chris Istace, Adrienne Richards, Peter Rusland and Christopher Shaw.

In the City of Duncan, no one has stepped forward to challenge Mayor Michelle Staples for her seat, so she will be acclaimed as mayor.

There are nine candidates for the six seats in the city, including all the current incumbents.

The incumbents are Bob Brooke, Jenni Capps, Tom Duncan, Stacy Middlemiss, Carol Newington and Garry Bruce, and the other three candidates are Mike McKinlay, Joe Sawchuk and Mark Anderson.

Lake Cowichan Coun. Tim McGonigle will challenge Mayor Bob Day for his position.

There are five people who are running for the four seats on Lake Cowichan’s town council.

They are incumbents Carolyne Austin, Kristine Sandhu and Lorna Vomacka and new contenders Aaron Frisby and Bill Garrett.

As for the nine electoral areas in the Cowichan Valley Regional District, Blaise Salmon is not seeking re-election in Electoral Area A (Mill Bay/Malahat), and the three contenders for the seat are Mark Dodd, Paul Olthof and Kate Segall.

Sierra Acton is seeking re-election in Electoral Area B (Shawnigan Lake) and the two challengers for the seat are Kathleen Code and Kate Macdonald.

Mike Wilson is running for re-election in Electoral Area C (Cobble Hill) , and the sole challenger for the seat is David Slade.

Lori Iannidinardo, who is also the current chair of the board, is not seeking re-election in Electoral Area D (Cowichan Bay) and the two running for the seat are Hilary Abbott and David Fast.

Alison Nicholson is seeking re-election in Electoral Area E (Cowichan Sation/Sahtlam/Glenora), and the only other candidate for the seat is Ruth Waddell.

Ian Morrison, the long-time director for Electoral Area F (Cowichan Lake South/Skutz Falls) was the only one to file nomination papers for his area, so he will be acclaimed.

Lynne Smith is running for re-election in Electoral Area G (Saltair/Gulf Islands) and the only challenger for the seat is Jesse McClinton.

Ben Maartman is the only candidate to file nomination papers for Electoral Area H (North Oyster/Diamond) and he will be acclaimed.

Four people are running for Electoral Area I (Youbou/Meade Creek.)

They are incumbent Klaus Kuhn, Karen Deck, John Rudzik and Max Russell.

There are a whopping 19 candidates for the seven seats on the board of the Cowichan Valley school district.

They include incumbents Elizabeth Croft, Randy Doman, Johanne Kemmler and Joe Thorne.

The new contenders are Jason Adair, Shannon Collum, Patricia Dawn, Jen Elmore, Patricia Gaudreault, Laura Interlandi, Janice John-Mitchell, Cindy Lise, Marina Sapozknikov, Cathy Schmidt, Kate Segall, Jeremy Smith, Eduardo Sousa, Jennifer Strachan and Serena Winterburn.

Candidates have until Friday, Sept. 16 to drop out of the race.