Lorne Gibson, who has served as both Alberta’s chief electoral officer and its election commissioner as well as Manitoba’s deputy chief electoral officer, returns to AlbertaPolitics.ca with a suggestion about how the Alberta Government can fix a serious problem it has created for Elections Alberta. The government has given the agency and its staff too little time to prepare for the next provincial general election, which is scheduled to take place on Oct. 18, 2027. But modern technology and policies requiring voters to present government-issued ID, have made the traditional neighbourhood poll unnecessary as a voting security measure, Mr. Gibson argues. Therein lies the answer to relieving pressure on an already strained elections agency. Mr. Gibson now lives in Winnipeg, where he runs an election management consultancy. DJC
A case for adopting a ‘vote anywhere’ model for Alberta elections
By Lorne Gibson
The challenges facing Elections Alberta as it prepares for the next provincial election are substantial, and provincial politicians must not ignore the logistical time crunch they helped create. Under normal circumstances, an 11-month window provides a comfortable runway for an election management body to plan and execute a high-quality election. But these are not normal times in Alberta.
Elections Alberta is facing a narrow operational window driven by two major pressures: a massive post-referendum administrative burden and an impending, highly complex redrawing of the province’s electoral boundaries.
The dual pressures of 2026
First, the agency is emerging from the colossal effort of administering the October 2026 mega-referendum. Managing a 10-question ballot required training and deploying roughly 48,000 workers to hand-count over 22 million ballots. The immense planning, logistics, and personnel hours devoted to this event represents time directly lost from preparing for the upcoming general election.
Furthermore, many of these 48,000 workers – most of whom had never worked an election before – may feel the burnout of five straight days of advanced voting and gruelling 11-hour shifts, not to mention the countless hours it took to count the ballots. Rebuilding this workforce will be an uphill battle, especially considering the agency hired only 13,000 additional workers in 2023.
Second, the agency must contend with impending electoral boundary updates. Passed via Bill 31 in late 2024, recent legislative amendments expand Alberta’s map from 87 to 89 electoral divisions. With the government aiming to finalize these boundaries by the end of the Fall 2026 legislative sitting, Elections Alberta must rapidly pivot from regular election readiness to a complex “return to readiness” phase.
Transitioning an entire province to a new electoral map is an under-appreciated technological and physical undertaking. Before a single physical ballot is cast, the agency must overhaul its digital infrastructure. Every residential address in the province’s voter database must be geo-coded and mapped to ensure voters are accurately assigned to their new divisions. Technology systems – including candidate nomination modules and voter registration portals – must be entirely reconfigured, while new returning officers must be appointed and trained for newly drawn geographic zones.
The rigid constraints of the calendar
The Chief Electoral Officer suggested running the 2027 general election on the existing 87-seat map or further delaying the election to ease this burden. Neither option has found favour with government officials.
The premier has already delayed the scheduled election date by six months, shifting it from May 31 to Oct. 18, 2027. Pushing the date back any further would land dangerously close to the constitutional five-year legislative limit mandated by Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Similarly, the government is unlikely to stall its own legislative timeline for the 89-division map.
With the calendar locked and the map expanding, policy makers must consider structural solutions to relieve the operational pressure on Elections Alberta.
A modern solution: Dismantling the neighbourhood poll
Most of the logistical strain associated with implementing new boundaries involves defining specific “voting areas” (historically known as polls) within an electoral division.
Historically, limiting voters to a single neighbourhood poll served a vital security function. Before centralized electronic databases and standardized government photo IDs, local poll clerks and scrutineers relied on community recognition to verify identities and prevent voter fraud. Forcing voters onto a rigid, physical poll book prevented individuals from voting multiple times and political parties and candidates from manipulating ballot boxes.
Today, these physical neighbourhood constraints are a logistical anachronism. With the introduction of electronic poll books and modern, proof-of-identity requirements, we no longer need to rely on a poll clerk recognizing their neighbours to authenticate a voter and validate a ballot.
This reality is already accepted during advance voting, where Albertans can vote at any one of several designated stations within their electoral division. Only on election day itself does the rigid requirement to vote at a single, hyper-local location return.
Embracing ‘vote anywhere’ models
Other Canadian provinces have already modernized this process by adopting “vote anywhere” models.
Manitoba allows citizens to cast their ballot at any voting place within their home electoral division on election day.
British Columbia takes the concept a step further, permitting voters to cast a ballot at any established voting place across the entire province.
Transitioning Alberta to an “anywhere voting” model on election day would significantly ease the boundary transition for election officials. Instead of meticulously dividing new electoral maps into micro-polling districts and geo-coding every single address to a specific neighbourhood site, Elections Alberta could focus on establishing highly efficient, centrally located voting hubs within each electoral division.
Critics of the “vote anywhere” model argue that while it works for advance voting due to staggered turnout, election day compresses a higher volume of voters into a single 11 or 12-hour window. They caution that without assigned locations, voters will naturally gravitate toward the most convenient location, causing unpredictable bottlenecks and long lines while smaller neighbourhood sites sit empty.
However, these concerns overlook shifting voter habits. Advance voting has transformed from a niche option for the disabled and election staff into a mainstream preference. With every passing cycle, a larger percentage of the electorate chooses to vote early, flattening the traditional election day rush.
Furthermore, digital tracking and modern electronic poll books make the actual process of striking a voter from the rolls and handing over a ballot faster than ever before.
As Elections Alberta navigates an unprecedented logistical crunch between now and October 2027, the provincial government should look to the successes of its western Canadian neighbors. Updating Alberta’s election laws to allow “vote anywhere” flexibility would not only relieve immense administrative pressure on a strained agency, but would deliver a more convenient, modern voting experience for all Albertans.
You’d wonder whether gerrymandering mightn’t be a more pressing concern in the run up.