Alberta voters flock to advance polls in record numbers

Alberta voters have flocked to advance polls in record numbers this week, raising hopes for high engagement in the current provincial election campaign.

"We're very pleased with the results so far," Elections Alberta spokesperson Robyn Bell said Thursday. "We want to see as many people exercise their democratic right as possible."

On Tuesday, the first day for advance voting, more than 161,000 people cast a ballot. That's well above the approximately 140,000 votes on the first advance-voting day for the 2019 provincial election.

As of Thursday evening, more than 460,000 people had voted, according to the Elections Alberta website.

Advance voting runs until Saturday. Election day is Monday, May 29.

Vote anywhere

Advance voting soared in the 2019 election to 36.7 per cent of the overall vote — more than double the figure from the 2015 election (15.8 per cent).

One contributing factor for that may have been the introduction of a "vote anywhere" system that allowed Albertans to vote in a different electoral district from their own during the advance voting period. Those ballots cast at a different location accounted for nearly one-third of all advance votes in 2019.

That's particularly important this year, as thousands of people across the province remain displaced from their communities due to a fierce early wildfire season. Elections Alberta said it was relying on the vote-anywhere element of advance voting to ensure it could provide people the means to cast a ballot even during evacuations.

However, Elections Alberta does not yet have a breakdown of how many advance voters were voting outside their electoral district this year.

Voters must vote at their designated polling station on election day.

Record-setting turnout

Along with high advance-voting numbers, the 2019 election also saw the highest overall turnout in decades, with 67.5 per cent — the most since the 1971 election, when 71.5 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. The all-time high in Alberta was 81.8 per cent in 1935, according to Elections Alberta.

It remains to be seen whether this year's early turnout will translate into a similar overall surge. But both 2019 and 2015 were significant elections that saw an increase in overall turnout and new governments elected ­— a relative rarity in Alberta's political history, which has largely featured dynasties until recently.

Garth Prinsonsky, who is voting in his first election since becoming a Canadian citizen, viewed the high early turnout as a positive sign for democracy.

"I took it as good news," he said outside a polling station at MacEwan University Thursday. "I think it's an indication more people are voting generally this time around, which is always great."