Albertans won’t have to wait days after this provincial election for advanced ballots to be counted.
In the 2019 Alberta Election,“vote anywhere” ballots were transported back to Elections Alberta headquarters where they were counted by high-speed tabulators and results were delayed for three days.
Robyn Bell, spokesperson with Elections Alberta, said for the 2023 election, those ballots will be instead by counted by tabulators at returning offices rather than being transported to headquarters.
That means “vote anywhere” ballots will be able to be counted on election night and included in the unofficial results which will be released that night.
“After the unofficial count is announced, then we begin the official count and the official results are released on June 8,” Bell said.
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Elections Alberta is using tabulators to conduct the count for ballots cast at advance voting places, with hand counts being used for all Special Ballot, Election Day, and Mobile Voting Places.
Bell said using tabulators allows Alberta Elections to provide the “vote anywhere” service for advanced voting locations.
A tabulator reads and scans a ballot, tabulates the results, and deposits the paper ballot into the ballot box. All paper ballots are preserved, in accordance with legislation, for a minimum of three months after Election Day.
Elections Alberta says there are multiple safeguards to ensure that the tabulator is counting the ballots as intended by voters, and tabulators are never connected to a network.
The final day to vote at advance voting locations is Saturday, and Election Day is Monday.
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Elections Alberta also used tabulators at advance voting places for the October 2014 by-elections for Edmonton-Whitemud, Calgary-West, Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-Elbow, and at advance voting places and Election Day voting for the December 2017, by-election for Calgary-Lougheed.
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