Two Alberta polling stations experienced delays on Election Day.
The Central Peace-Notley polling station did not open until 10:10 a.m. after an election officer did not show up to work. Elections Alberta said replacement staff was brought in, and that the location would remain open for an extra hour and 10 minutes to accommodate the delay.
A delay was also seen in Fox Lake, a fly-in, no-service First Nation in Alberta’s far north, about 150 kilometres east of High Level.
According to Elections Alberta, two polling staff—a deputy returning officer and polling clerk—did not show up to work there. The department found out when a person with a satellite phone called the issue in.
Elections Alberta chartered a plane to fly two workers from Fort Vermillion to open the polling station, telling CTV News it was important to grant everyone who wanted to vote the ability to do so. It was unknown by how long the polling station would be delayed, as Elections Alberta was going to have to wait until the fill-in workers returned.
Fox Lake, a community of 1,000, has about 200 eligible voters. In 2015, 150 voted.
Elections Alberta said it would look into why the Fox Lake workers were absent, but added they were trained and received elections material ahead of the vote.
