Alberta referendum results delayed by extended voting hours

Unofficial results from Alberta's provincial referendum were delayed Monday night after Elections Alberta said in a news release that voting hours were extended at multiple locations across the province due to late openings earlier in the day.

Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure authorized the extensions under section 4(3)(a) of the Election Act to ensure voters in affected electoral divisions received the full advertised hours of service, Elections Alberta said. Late openings were attributed to various issues that had since been resolved.

Among the southeastern Alberta locations affected were two in the Taber-Warner electoral division: the Bow Island Legion, open until 8:14 p.m., and Foremost Community Hall, open until 8:11 p.m. Taber Christian Elementary School was open until 8:15 p.m.

The latest closing time listed in the release was 10:10 p.m. at Lavern Community Hall in the Cardston-Siksika electoral division.

In a separate release, Elections Alberta said the results website could not go live until all voting locations across the province were confirmed closed, meaning unofficial results would not begin appearing before 10 p.m. at the earliest.

The agency said counting teams would not wait for other teams within an electoral division to finish before releasing their own results. Hand counts were required for all ballots cast through special ballot voting, advance voting, Election Day voting and mobile voting.

Advance voting and special ballot volumes were substantial: 837,791 votes were cast during the five-day in-person advance period and 519,082 by special ballot, representing a combined advance and special ballot turnout of 43.1 per cent.

Question 10 was to be counted and reported first, followed by Questions 1 through 9 in order. Results were to be displayed by electoral division and broken down by voting opportunity.

Under the Referendum (General) Regulation, counts must be completed and unofficial results published within 48 hours of the confirmed close of all voting locations on Oct. 19.

Official results are scheduled to be published on Oct. 29, 2026, at results.elections.ab.ca. Public inquiries can be directed to Elections Alberta at 1-877-422-8683.