After a long season of campaigning, election day has arrived and Calgarians are being asked to cast their ballot at the polls on Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
But there are a few things that voters should keep in mind before they head to their local polling station said Elections Calgary.
Namely know where your polling station is located and what identification you need to bring, as unlike during advance polling ballots must be cast at a voter’s designated polling station.
“Anyone that did not receive their voter information card via mail due to the Canada Post strike, I would encourage Calgarians to either look to electionscalgary.ca, and use the Where do I vote tool, or to look into the voter guide,” said Kate Martin, Returning Officer for Elections Calgary.
“Typically, voters will bring a driver’s license or an Alberta ID card. If anyone’s recently moved to Calgary, I would say a utility bill or a lease agreement will also be helpful. Those are the key pieces.”
Martin said not having those IDs on hand doesn’t necessarily mean that a voter can’t cast their ballot and won’t be a reason not to go to the polls.
“If anyone finds themselves in that situation, our election workers are trained to help voters determine what is acceptable identification. So I would not look at that as a discouraging factor. Election workers are there to help Calgarians figure out what ID will be accepted and whether vouching might even be a possible option for them,” she said.
Lastly, if voters find themselves still in line at 8 p.m., but haven’t yet cast their ballot, they will still be allowed to do so, Martin said.
What will be different this election from the 2021 municipal election is that voters will be given multiple ballots for mayor, councillor, and trustee that will be counted by hand instead of a single ballot card used in a tabulator.
Unlike in the 2021 election, if a voter incorrectly fills out their ballot they will not be given a replacement ballot to re-fill out because each ballot is being hand counted and not tabulated.
Martin said that she also wanted to thank the nearly 5,000 Calgarians who have stepped up to work at the polls on Monday.
“Without them, this would not be possible. So, we’re really grateful that Calgarians have taken this opportunity. They will be working across the whole entire city today at the 261 stations to ensure that all Calgarians have an opportunity to vote,” she said.
Live election results will be available on LiveWire Calgary starting at 8 p.m.
