Fact Check: Elections Alberta restricts referendum scrutineers due to limited space

Supporters of Alberta’s separatist movement have recently claimed on social media that restrictions around who can assign scrutineers to polling stations risk undermining the Alberta referendum on Monday, Oct. 19.

Experts said that while the claim raises legitimate concerns about balancing the interests of participants with a stake in the referendum, the limit on scrutineers does not reflect an orchestrated attempt to exclude separatists.

THE CLAIM

In an Oct. 10 post on the X platform, Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant, a prominent supporter of the Alberta separatist movement, shared a post from a Western Standard columnist who had confirmed that only people who signed up through the NDP or United Conservative Party would be allowed to act as referendum scrutineers.

“Just got an email from Elections Alberta stating that no scrutineers will be accepted from any third party advertisers at all in the referendum,” the columnist posted on Oct. 9.

This led Levant to accuse Elections Alberta of favouring the campaign to keep Alberta in Canada. “Elections Alberta is corrupt to the point where the integrity of the referendum is in question,” he wrote in the post that had received 23,500 views as of Oct 14.

A post from another separatist supporter pointed to the exclusion of scrutineers from third party advertisers as evidence that the referendum was “rigged,” while another commented: “This is not going to help faith in the referendum at all.”

THE FACTS

A spokesperson for Elections Alberta acknowledged in an emailed statement that the agency is excluding third-party advertisers from scrutineer roles for the referendum and allowing only those designated by parties with official party status.

Currently only the UCP and NDP enjoy official status in the legislature, which requires having at least four elected members.

According to Elections Alberta’s website, scrutineers represent candidates at voting locations to monitor how ballots are handled and to observe the election procedure, including counting of the ballots. To qualify, scrutineers must be registered voters, be appointed by a candidate, take an oath of secrecy and adhere to Elections Alberta’s code of conduct.

Alex Marland, a professor of Canadian politics at Acadia University in Nova Scotia who has worked as a scrutineer in the past, said scrutineers can observe voters arriving at their voting locations, watch them submit their ballots and object to any ballots they examine.

He added that scrutineers cannot interact with voters and they do not handle ballots.

The Elections Alberta spokesperson said the chief electoral officer had already approved a scrutineer list submitted by registered political parties and could not add third-party advertiser scrutineers because of space restrictions.

“When we considered the size of the voting locations and the count areas, the number of workers needed in those spaces in addition to the space required for ballot boxes, there simply isn’t room for additional people in these locations,” the spokesperson said.

The referendum asks a total of 10 questions covering immigration and Canada’s Constitution.

The central question facing voters is whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the process to hold a binding referendum on separation.

Elections Alberta defines third party advertisers on its website as any people, corporations or groups that spend at least $1,000 on political advertisements. There are 28 third party advertisers registered for the referendum, representing both sides of the central question.

Lori Williams, an associate professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the Elections Alberta decision reflects the challenges it faces when overseeing a provincewide referendum with such high stakes.

She added that the system is designed to support political parties and their candidates during elections. It is less equipped for a referendum with 10 ballot questions and outside groups heavily invested in the campaign.

According to the Elections Alberta website, the province’s chief electoral officer has the discretion to appoint additional scrutineers, taking into account the size of voting locations and the balance between the Yes and No sides.

“What they’re finding is the combination with so many questions and the need for so many election workers, the polling stations are crowded,” Williams said.

“And if you imagine adding all of those representatives from all of those (third party advertisers), it could get pretty problematic in a big hurry.

Both the UCP and NDP officially support the campaign for Alberta to remain in Canada.

She said the situation raised questions about balancing the interests of the groups and parties involved, but she sees no evidence of an effort to exclude one side of the debate.

Instead it exposes an electoral system that is designed around official political parties and candidates rather than issues.

“It’s certainly not a deliberate conspiracy, but of course, it also raises questions about legitimacy if only one side, those that are on the federal side, are allowed to act as scrutineers,” she said.