Alberta’s record mail-in voting operation is facing another administrative problem less than a month before the province’s Oct. 19 referendum, with some electors saying special-ballot paperwork arrived using information that no longer matches their legal identification.
CityNews reported that transgender voters Rowan Venedam and Artie Four received referendum paperwork containing previous names, gender information, or both, despite saying their records had previously been updated.
The problem is particularly relevant where a name is incorrect because Elections Alberta requires special-ballot voters to submit copies of accepted identification proving their name and address.
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Venedam told CityNews he had changed his gender information more than four years ago and had voted using his updated information in the previous provincial election. Four said he had also updated his information with Elections Alberta before requesting his referendum ballot package.
Venedam, who runs Trans Action Alberta, told the outlet he had heard from 26 other Albertans reporting similar problems. Elections Alberta told CityNews that it had directly received reports from two people.
Elections Alberta spokesperson Maia Hanrahan said an elector whose changed name does not appear on the special ballot has a voter-registration record that has not been updated. The agency directed affected voters to its special-ballot team to have the information corrected.
The problem arrives during an unusually large special-ballot operation. As of Sept. 17, Elections Alberta had received almost 520,000 special-ballot applications, with more than 330,000 packages mailed and more than 24,000 completed packages returned and approved. About 72% of applications had been approved and sent for production and mailing.
The agency has already dealt with separate problems involving the packages. Elections Alberta said a production issue caused 313 special-ballot packages, or 0.09% of packages issued at that point, to be sent with ballots missing. Replacement packages were issued to affected voters. Another roughly 7,200 applications had been delayed because of addressing problems, typos, and other errors in applications.
Earlier in September, Elections Alberta also acknowledged that its special-ballot declaration contained outdated language requiring voters to declare that they were unable to vote in person. Provincial law no longer requires voters to have a reason to use a special ballot. Elections Alberta told voters they could cross out the sentence and said later packages would use a corrected declaration.
The agency also moved the application deadline forward from Oct. 9 to Sept. 25, citing the time needed to mail packages to voters and receive completed ballots before the statutory deadline. Completed special ballots must reach Elections Alberta by mail by 5pm on Oct. 16.
The referendum contains 10 questions. The final question asks electors to choose between Alberta remaining a province of Canada and directing the provincial government to begin the constitutional process required to hold a future binding referendum on separation. The Oct. 19 vote on that question is itself non-binding.
