Results of Thursday's Whitehorse municipal election were not official until the last poll was tallied at about 9:45 p.m.

Unofficially, the trend for the evening was established when election officers at city hall counted the results of the mobile poll and posted them at 8:30 p.m.

The mobile poll fixed the order, not only for the mayor's race, but also in the race for the six councillor seats.

As each poll came in, incumbent Coun. Jan Stick maintained her dominance as the leading councillor candidate.

Two-term veterans Doug Graham and Dave Austin clutched firmly onto second and third places respectively, throughout the night, without fail. Dave Stockdale, the longest-serving council member seeking his ninth-consecutive term, remained a solid fourth.

And while there was some back-and-forth jossling for fifth and sixth position between rookie candidates Jeanine Myhre and Florence Roberts, for the most part, Myhre held onto fifth and Roberts kept a hold on sixth, though at times was threatened by candidate Brian Eaton for the last seat on council. (See results table opposite.)

That's the way it finished; the four incumbents on top, Myhre fifth and Roberts sixth.

Stick, not seen either as an outspoken or animated member of council, received the nod from 76 per cent of the electorate, garnering 3,264 votes from the 4,280 Whitehorse residents who cast their ballots.

As obvious as Stick's popularity was early in the returns, the incumbent of just half of a term declined any comment, suggesting she did not want to jinx the outcome.

Somewhat more candidly this morning, the local businesswoman agreed she doesn't deliver a knuckle-dragging style of politics.

'I tend to wait until I have a good handle on what is going on before I speak,' said Stick, who was elected to council in a February 2005 byelection to replace Yvonne Harris, who had moved to Nunavut.

'I try to be as well-informed as I can on the issues. That is my way, anyway.'

Stick said she is overwhelmed by the number of votes she received, and only hopes it's a reflection of appreciation for the work she does.

'It is really amazing, and it is humbling,' she said of the returns. 'It just reminds me that I have a job to do here. I doubt if I am going to keep 3,200 people happy all of the time, but I will do my best.'

Stick said she didn't know if there was any message to be taken from the fact that for the first time, women will make up the majority on city council.

'I guess the best man wins,' she joked.

While the results for Stick were evident from the start, the race for the final two seats on council were much more uncertain.

While Myhre and Roberts managed to hold onto the fifth and sixth positions in the end, early in the evening, with a third of the polls reporting, it remained a horse race: Myhre, 548; Roberts, 528; Eaton, 508.

But the gap began to grow.

With 16 of the 32 polls reporting: Myhre in fifth with 1,028; Roberts in sixth with 997; Eaton in seventh with 901 and Ron Swizdaryk in eighth with 746.

'I was certainly surprised that I won,' the 21-year-old Myhre, who watched the results at home on television with her parents, said this morning. 'I was not expecting it, and it was definitely a close race.'

For Myhre, it would have been interesting to see the results had more candidates come forward, but she found the race exciting nonetheless.

'I guess I will just have to hunker down and live up to my responsibility, and I definitely want to,' she said, noting the first orientation meeting of the new council is Saturday.

Candidate Florence Roberts despite decades of life experience in the private and public work sectors, running her own business, and serving her countless volunteer hours for numerous organizations wasn't afraid to admit she was nervous, really nervous, even before the earliest poll results were known.

'I have never been through this before,' she said, almost asking why anyone would expect anything but nervousness while running for office for the first time.

'It is really quite a thrill, too ... and it is a thrill to know my kids are watching (online from B.C.).

'I just figure that if you have something to contribute here, and have some alternatives you think are viable, then maybe they are, and if they aren't, then you will soon here about it.'

Not long after her seat was secure, Roberts offered thanks to her friends through word of mouth, as that is all she relied on during her campaign.

'I attribute it (the success) to my longevity here, and to the organizations which I have been involved with, and to the people who do know me.

'Because the people who know me, know I mean what I say, and say what I mean.'

Linda Caisson-Hare, a past city councillor who was at council chambers last night to provide radio political commentary, said afterward the low voter turnout was undoubtedly a product of voter burnout.

Voters, she said, tend to mix up the different responsibilities between the municipal and territorial governments to begin with.

Premier Dennis Fentie's decision to hold the Oct. 10 territorial election in the middle of a municipal campaign resulted in diminished interest in the municipal elections, she said.

'I think people were feeling saturated.'

Caisson-Hare did note that for the first time, the majority of Whitehorse council is comprised of women. But not only in Whitehorse has there been an increase in representation of women, but across the territory, she pointed out.

It wasn't time for Caisson-Hare to seek office again, she said, but she vowed her desire to serve on the municipal council is far from dead.

'I will be back you can make such a difference.'

Stockdale, returned to his ninth term in office, was one of the two incumbents who were at city hall to watch the results flow in.

He sat patiently, suggesting now and then that while he was comfortably sitting in a solid fourth, poll after poll, it would have been nice to jump into third.

It's like the difference in comfort between winning a hockey game 2-1 and 3-1, he said, though at no time were any of the incumbents in danger of losing their seats.

Stockdale believes the solid support for the four incumbent councillors is simply of sign of confidence in the existing council.

For the veteran of 23 years, the next three years will be back to the bread and butter issues for the municipality, the infrastructure issues Hamilton Boulevard and providing a more comprehensive approach to land development, he said.

Stockdale did note that he took particular interest during the campaign in the discussion for a homeless shelter for Whitehorse youth.

Front and centre for this council right how, he emphasized, are the upcoming Canada Winter Games.