Advance polls open in Calgary ahead of referendum

Albertans can now cast their ballots early, with over 300 advance polls open across the province on Tuesday ahead of next week’s Oct. 19 referendum.

Advance polls will remain open until Saturday Oct. 17, giving eligible Albertans five days to mark their ballots before election day. Hours vary by each location, but Elections Alberta said that every electoral division will have at least one advance poll open each day of advance voting.

There are 10 questions on the ballot — from if Alberta should stay in Canada to how much control the province should have over immigration.

Elections Alberta spokesperson Michelle Gurney said it is hard to to predict what turnout will look like, but she said it’s important for all voters to come prepared and understand the questions in advance. She added that each polling location will have posters with the questions, so that voters can familiarize themselves before stepping into the voting booth.

She also encouraged all Albertans to be patient and be considerate of election workers and other voters.

“It’s important to just be kind, the people in line are their friends and neighbours,” she said. “As well, staff working for Elections Alberta are proving a service to their friends and neighbours.”

Advance voting locations can be found through Election Alberta’s Where To Vote tool, and  information about what identification is needed can be found on the website.

Gurney said the organization has seen a surge in mail-in-ballot requests. She said the demand has been 11 times higher than in the 2023 provincial election, but cautions that that isn’t an indicator about turnout.

“Some people, I believe, are looking for a little bit more time to think on those (questions), as well there was the legislative change that said you no longer need to declare that you’re not available to vote that day. So anybody could request a special ballot,” she said.

Gurney also pointed to an increase in mail-in voting since 2019, with 2023’s election seeing twice the amount of special ballot requests. Another factor, she said, could be the legislative change made to the use of tabulators. All votes will be hand-counted, which limits where voters can go in-person.

During advance voting, eligible Albertans can only go to locations in their electoral division, with some divisions having several and others having only one. On Oct. 19, voters can only cast their ballots at their assigned voting location in their division.

This also means that Elections Alberta has had to grow their workforce to account for the changes. During the 2023 election, the organization had over 13,000 election workers. For the referendum, it’s trying to quadruple that number.

“We put out the call for 60,000 election workers. As of this weekend, just yesterday, we had over 70,000 applications and we had already hired 46,000,” Gurney said. “And we will continue recruiting for the count up until next weekend.”

Advance votes and mail-in ballots will begin to be counted at 5 p.m. on Oct. 19, according to Gurney, with legislative rules requiring all ballots be counted within 48 hours of polls closing.