TAMRMS#: B06
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Mail-in Ballots for the 2021 Municipal Election
Notice given by: Mayor Heron
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
The purpose of this report is to present a motion for which Mayor Heron gave notice on November 16, 2020.
PROPOSED MOTION
recommendation
That the City of St. Albert second the Town of Okotoks' 2021 Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) resolution advocating Provincial establishment of a Regulation under the Local Authorities Election Act to enable special ballot provisions for any eligible elector for use in the 2021 civic election.
DISCUSSION
The attached Administrative Backgrounder discusses in some detail the motivation for this initiative by the Town of Okotoks.
The following should also be noted:
1. Mail-in ballots (known as "special ballots" in Alberta) are currently not mandatory: the legislation gives councils the option to offer mail-in voting for electors who will not be in the jurisdiction for Election Day or Advanced Polls, but does not require councils to do so. The proposed Okotoks AUMA motion would not change that situation: it contemplates that the use of special ballots would continue to be at the option of each municipal council. What the proposal would do, if acted on by the Government of Alberta, is to greatly widen the range of potential special ballot voters to include ALL eligible voters, should the municipality choose to offer this option. This would mean that a voter could choose to vote by mail-in ballot even if they would be available to cast their vote in person on Election Day or at an Advanced Poll.
2. Because of the potential for delays in tabulating and reporting election results if a large number of residents choose to vote by mail, Administration recommends that if Council agrees to support Okotoks' resolution, an amendment be proposed to encourage the Province to draft a Special Ballot Regulation so as to allow municipalities a reasonable time in advance of Election Day to begin counting and tabulating the mail-in vote. In that way, election workers will be able to focus most of their effort on Election Day on counting and tabulating the votes cast that day, thereby ensuring that overall unofficial election results can be known and publicly released as soon as possible. The official results of a municipal election are certified by the Returning Officer at noon on the Friday following a Monday election day, which is plenty of time to handle a very large mail-in vote even if the start of counting the mail-in vote must wait until Election Day. Typically however, both the candidates and the public do not want to wait until noon on Friday, and are keen to know the unofficial results within an hour or two of the polls closing if at all possible. To ensure that this can happen, legal authority to start counting the mail-in ballots well in advance would be very helpful.
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Report Date: December 7, 2020
Authors: David Leflar, Director / Karrina Jung, Municipal Intern
Department: Legal and Legislative Services
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble