Alberta towns, villages and cities push for tabulator option in local votes

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to Alberta municipalities in Red Deer on Sept. 26, 2024. (CTV News Calgary)

Alberta municipal leaders are calling for the provincial government to reverse its plan to ban vote counting machines, saying it’s more costly and time consuming to count by hand.

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However, Premier Danielle Smith says the province wants to do things the old-fashioned way.

Smith told reporters at the Alberta Municipalities convention in Red Deer electronic tabulators have failed to produce faster results and confidence in them.

The premier says the province has asked municipalities for a tally of the costs so it can help cover them.

The City of Edmonton has estimated it will cost $2.6 million to revert to hand-counting, while Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says it could cost at least $1.3 million to implement the province’s new rules for the next municipal election in 2025.

Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam says the machines can increase the accuracy of vote counting, save money and provide quicker election results.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says if the province wants to force hand-counting, it should pay for it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024