While Alberta’s new “vote anywhere” system was implemented to make voting simpler, the system means a more complicated counting process behind scenes.
The system, announced March 11, means registered Albertans can vote outside of their electoral division for the first time during advance polls.
“We're really hoping this opportunity will increase the ability for people to get out to the polls,” said Pamela Renwick, director of operations and communications at Elections Alberta.
Ballots cast before April 16 will be packaged and couriered to an Edmonton warehouse where they will be sorted and counted by a machine. Any ballots the tabulator cannot read will be reviewed by workers.
The process will be slower than constituency-based voting.
“This process is going to carry on after Election Day for multiple days,” Renwick explained.
While unofficial results will come out on election night, the estimated nine per cent of votes that will be cast at advance polls will take as many as 10 days to count—delaying a final count by the same amount of time.
“So for tight races, these ballots are going to matter,” Renwick said.
Advance polls are open April 9 to April 13.
With files from Bill Fortier
