By Sumayya
Elections Alberta says it has added up the estimated cost of last month’s provincewide referendum vote, which comes to 84 million dollars.
The agency, which was kept busy during the past year by a non-stop wave of recall petitions, citizen initiatives, and a historic public vote, requested more than 59 million dollars in extra funds from the government on Thursday to cover both past costs and upcoming operations.
Close to 49 million dollars of that requested cash is to retroactively pay for October’s referendum. That vote broke previous records for its early voting queues, special ballot paper requests, the total count of staff hired, and the final voter turnout.
That specific sum of money has already been spent and stands now as an unpaid cost, the agency clarified.
Another 9 million dollars is meant to support the upcoming provincial general election, which is scheduled to take place on October 18, 2027.
The extra cash was approved by a UCP-majority legislative committee on Thursday evening.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure informed the committee that the specific style of the vote—which demanded that staff hand-count 10 separate ballot papers for every single voter—had heavily strained the financial and physical resources of the agency, leaving them with a funding shortage.
Elections Alberta was previously running on a budget of 52 million dollars for the 2025-2026 financial year.
McClure explained that 26 million dollars by itself was required just to pay the workers who hand-counted the more than 22 million ballot papers that were cast. Renting out the physical locations used for voting and counting cost an extra 7 million dollars. Close to 11 million dollars was used for safety security, computer IT tools, and the shipping and mail costs for special ballots.
McClure told the committee that the total work load was crushing for his staff. He mentioned that one worker even developed appendicitis but delayed going for medical treatment just to keep counting ballots.
Elections Alberta’s chief administrative officer Steve Kaye stated that he worked a 22-hour shift during the referendum event. He added that most of the agency’s executive leadership team worked multiple 16-to-20-hour days.
While he made it clear a few times that his workers were not complaining, as hard work is just part of the job, he worried that a shortage of future cash might hurt the agency’s chances of keeping sustainable staffing levels.
We have had our foot on the gas pedal for a long time, he stated on Thursday. People are tired, and we have a few worries moving forward about being able to hire back some of the individuals who have worked for us in the past.
An upcoming government debate on redrawing the lines for voting districts across the province, which is expected to slow down general election planning, was also discussed.
The committee heard on Thursday that Elections Alberta will be able to run the next general election right on time, even though they had previously requested a delayed election date.
Elections Alberta explains that it cannot get ready for an election until it knows exactly which voting districts to prepare for. The group normally requests at least a year of time to get ready for a planned election.
The committee gave the agency close to 1 million dollars in extra cash to hire brand-new, full-time workers. Elections Alberta currently has 54 people working for it full-time.
A finished annual budget report and a formal request for Elections Alberta’s 2027-2028 work plans is expected to come out in December.
