Provincial rule changes blamed for long municipal voting lines in Calgary

Many Calgarians reported hours-long waits at polling stations during Monday’s municipal election, with several residents saying they were forced to leave without voting due to the delays.
Voters described lineups stretching outside schools and community centers across the city. Some said they waited up to three hours to cast a ballot, while others gave up entirely. The narrow margin separating mayoral candidates Jeromy Farkas and Sonya Sharp — fewer than 600 votes — left some regretting their decision not to return.
Political science professor Lisa Young from the University of Calgary attributed the delays to recent provincial rule changes. Under the new regulations, election workers were required to manually complete voter attestation forms for every individual, including names, addresses, and signatures, before issuing a ballot. Additionally, electronic tabulators were banned, requiring all ballots to be counted by hand.
Young said the measures, intended to boost voter confidence, created unnecessary bottlenecks for a problem that scarcely existed. “There are very few recorded instances of voter fraud,” she said, noting that the process was already “labour-intensive and slow.”
Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams defended the changes, arguing that municipalities had more than a year to prepare and that hand-counting ballots promotes trust in election results amid growing skepticism about voting systems worldwide.
However, Alberta Municipalities and several local leaders disagreed. Former St. Albert mayor Cathy Heron said the new rules discouraged participation, pointing to a voter turnout of around 30 per cent — the lowest in recent memory. “These changes were supposed to increase confidence,” she said, “but I think they’ve done the opposite.”
Meanwhile, some voters also reported missing or incorrect school trustee ballots at certain polling stations, leading to confusion and frustration. City officials said ballot supplies were monitored and replenished as needed, though multiple voters across wards reported being denied the correct ballots or receiving ones for the wrong district.
Many residents expressed disappointment, saying the experience undermined their confidence in the municipal election process and made them question whether future elections would face similar issues.