Fact File: Elections Alberta has measures to prevent voter fraud in referendum

EDMONTON – An online user claimed on social media that Alberta residents who are not Canadian citizens can falsely declare their citizenship at polling stations and vote in the Oct. 19 referendum. The user questioned Elections Alberta’s verification process and raised the spectre of a surge of ineligible voters changing the outcome of an election. Elections Alberta said it checks applicants’ information against the province’s voter list, adding that lying about citizenship is an offence. One expert noted the voter list contains citizenship status pulled from a national database.

THE CLAIM

In an Oct 6 post on X, which had received about 19,000 views as of Oct. 15, the user claims the province’s election rules allow non-Canadian Alberta residents who have an accepted ID with their name and address to make a false citizenship declaration and vote.

“Officials do not require a passport, birth certificate, citizenship card, or other proof of citizenship at the polling station,” the user said. “Yes, it’s illegal for a non-citizen to vote. But, it’s possible.”

The user questioned how Elections Alberta checks an applicant’s citizenship status, adding that the office simply takes their declarations at “face value” and puts them into the provincial voter registry system. The user questioned whether the province’s current system could allow “a significant number” of ineligible voters to change the outcome of an election. 

THE FACTS  

Albertans will vote Oct. 19 in a referendum that 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.

Eligible voters must be Canadian citizens, residents of Alberta and at least 18 years old. An Elections Alberta spokesperson said the office has a series of measures in place to protect against voter fraud.

She said by email that anybody who arrives at a polling station without first registering to vote needs to provide accepted ID, such as a driver’s licence, and sign a declaration confirming their Canadian citizenship. The declaration is a legal document not an “honour system,” she said, and lying on it is an offence under the provincial Election Act.

According to Elections Alberta website, anybody found trying to vote illegally face possible fines of up to $50,000 and possible jail terms of up to two years.

The spokesperson said that the office records the applicant’s information to guard against the same person voting twice, and any potential breaches are provided to the province’s election commissioner. She added that scrutineers are also presence to monitor voting.

Lori Williams, an associate professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Alberta’s voter registry system tends to contain the voters’ citizenship status, derived from their tax return forms filed to the federal government.

“The voters list emerges from things like our tax returns, and of course, Canada Revenue Agency knows that we’re citizens, so some verification can be done within the Elections Alberta system,” she said.

According to a Government of Canada website, Canadians can consent to the revenue agency sharing their personal information used on their filed tax return forms with Elections Canada to update their status in the government’s National Register of Electors.

In the tax return form, applicants are asked if they are a Canadian citizen and if they consent to their personal information, including their citizenship status, being shared with Elections Canada to update its National Register of Electors. Provincial or territorial electoral offices can pull their residents’ personal information from the national register to update their own voter registries.

Elections Alberta says there is no evidence that ineligible voters are a growing problem. It has issued a total seven letters of reprimand for voter fraud since 2015, four to people found to be ineligible and three to people found to have voted more than once.

Williams said it is theoretically possible that a non-citizen could try to vote, but Elections Alberta has an effective system and laws in place to deter anybody from trying to do so.

“If you do test it and disclose it that you’ve tested it, you’re liable to fine and/or imprisonment,” she said. “This is a significant deterrent to anybody tempted to test whether the system works.”

One of the 10 questions being asked in the referendum is whether the province should require individuals “to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.