Albertans can be ‘very confident’ in municipal results: Former election official

Drew Westwater on Alberta Primetime Oct 24, 2025

Former Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for Elections Alberta Drew Westwater joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss new provincial election rules and recent issues with municipal elections across the province.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: This was the first set of elections to implement new rules legislated by the provincial government over a year ago.

How do you feel municipalities fared?

Drew Westwater: Overall across Alberta, they dealt with the new legislation as best they could given the changes that impacted the voting experience for electors across Alberta. That was based on the number of electors in that jurisdiction and how many polls there were.

There were obviously some issues in Edmonton and Calgary that were well-documented and reported on. There were lineups in the polls created by the new legislation. That’s not surprising. We’ve always had lineups in the polls on election day. It’s just a question of how long you waited in line. The legislative changes impacted that greatly. In addition to that, the postal strike by Canada Post affected the ability to send out voter notification cards to electors.

Traditionally, those would have barcodes telling electors you’re on the voters list, and bring this to the poll with you. We’ll get you in and out of there in no time because you’re on the register already. The changes made by the government changed all that. Unfortunately, there were no voter cards to come in with the polls because of the postal strike. As a result, electors had to come into the polls on the manual system.

They had to identify themselves, they had to be looked up in the register manually. Then they also had to fill out a statement of qualification of elector, adding their name and their address to the form itself. That takes time. Not everybody reads and writes in English as a first language, or reads and writes well. That takes time, and each elector behind them is waiting for them to do that before they get their ballots and vote.

In addition to that, because there areno voting machines anymore you got three separate ballots. You got a mayors ballot, a councillors ballot, and a school board ballot. Those had to be handed out, and that delayed the time at the voting desk for each elector. What was usually a one-or two-minute exercise became a five-or six-minute exercise . It tripled the time at the desk.

MH: Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs defended the changes this week. He called hand counting ballots “the gold standard.”

How necessary was it for the provincial government to ban the use of vote tabulators?

DW: The provincial government felt it was necessary. Vote tabulators have been used extensively across Canada since 1988 at both the municipal and provincial levels. They’re still used today in municipalities across Canada, at the municipal and provincial levels. They’re accurate. Their integrity is beyond question. The accuracy and integrity of the systems have been proven in recounts over the years. There have been no issues with voting tabulators reported by election officials, both municipally or provincially.

There was no outcry from the general public about dissatisfaction with the voting machines. There was nothing there that I was aware of when the changes were made to demonstrate there was a need to ban the use of voting machines. They’re still used throughout Canada, in most other jurisdictions already.

MH: Could more have been done by the province to help municipalities navigate the new process?

DW: We had manual counting of ballots before voting machines came in1988. It was used for hundreds of years, since confederation. The process for doing that was changed somewhat. In the old days, you had a maximum of 450 electors per poll for each voting station, and you had a deputy returning officer (DRO) and a poll truck at each voting station.

So If you had a 30 per cent turnout, they’d count a maximum of 150 ballots for mayor, under 50 ballots for councillors, and even less for the school trustees. Today, because the voting has changed so much over the years and efficiencies have been made with vote tabulators, they’re not restricted to 450 elector per polling subdivision.

The larger polls with more electors going to it, there’s only usually one electorate and DRO or election official for each voting station, because they have automated systems to count for the register itself. There are fewer people available who are traditionally working the polls.

Municipalities and election officials throughout Alberta made every effort to increase the number of staff they had available at polls for manual counts, but there’s a smaller pool of people available to do that today than there were previously.

MH: Edmonton mayoral runner-up Tim Cartmell is calling for an independent third-party audit.

What form of post-election analysis do you feel might be warranted here?

DW: Certainly a review of the staffing levels in each location, the policies and procedures implemented by each individual municipality. The close of polls, the counting of the ballots, what happens, how they’re reported, the control and maintenance of the ballot boxes themselves. Whether you go to a counting centre where you put additional staff on to help with the counting of the ballots, to assist in the expediency of that.

It’s always taken time to count ballots manually across Alberta and across Canada.

That’s why official ballots and official results were not until noon today. Election day was Monday. Today’s Friday. That gives the election returning officers time to review the results of election night, to correct any errors that have been made in paperwork or documentation. That’s traditionally always been there. It just takes a little longer this time.

MH: How confident should voters be in the outcome of municipal elections going forward, if this process continues?

DW: I’m sure municipalities will take lessons from their experiences this time. Now that they’ve run manual elections again, which they haven’t done for many years. This was the first time for many of the returning officers.

I’m very confident the official results are accurate and the integrity of the voting process is preserved. Electors should be confident throughout Alberta that the voting system is working and working well. How we can manage the polls better and the lineups better can be improved for next time. I’m sure the municipalities will take steps to address that.