Election Results

On Election Day (Monday, October 20) after the polls close at 8:00pm, and all electors present at the voting station have cast their ballots, election workers will begin counting the votes cast at their assigned Voting Station.

Votes cast on Advance Voting Days, Special (Mail-In) Ballots, and Institutional Voting Opportunities are counted at the Counting Centre (Field House) beginning at 7:30pm.

In previous elections, the City used vote tabulators to count each ballot and generate election results. Vote tabulators generated results in less than 30 minutes following the close of the voting stations. However, with recent changes to the Local Alberta Elections Act, municipalities are only permitted to generate results using hand counting methods. This method is expected to take several hours as it is done by real people in real time. Human error can occur and therefore a validation process will take place where each ballot will be counted twice to ensure accuracy of results.

Vote Counting Method

Election workers are hired and trained specifically for counting ballots. Candidates can watch the ballot counting process or designate a scrutineer to attend the Voting Station to view the counting process. Once election workers have finished counting all the ballots, the designated Presiding Deputy Returning Officer will notify the Returning Officer of the results for each race – Mayor, Councillor, School Trustee for Battle River School Division and School Trustee for Elk Island Catholic School Division.

The ballots and other election documents are then sealed in the ballot box and delivered to the Returning Officer.

Results

Unofficial Election Results are not expected to be made public until Tuesday, October 21. Hand counting takes a significant amount of time, and it is expected that election workers will be counting ballots into the early morning hours of October 21.

Official Results will be posted on the City’s website by noon on Friday October 24. 

We thank candidates and members of the public for their patience during the ballot counting process. Hand counting is a labour-intensive process, that requires validation to mitigate human error. The City is committed to counting the ballots as efficiently as possible.