EDMONTON — Albertans may have to wait until at least 10 p.m. tonight before seeing the first unofficial referendum results, as long lineups and earlier delays keep some voting locations open beyond their scheduled closing time.
Elections Alberta says voting locations are scheduled to close at 8 p.m. tonight, but they must remain open for voters already in line and may also stay open later if they opened behind schedule.
Because of delays earlier in the day, the agency says the earliest the final voting location will close is 10 p.m.
The provincewide results website cannot go live until every voting location has been confirmed closed.
Several Albertans have taken to social media tonight to comment on lengthy lines and the sometimes winding routes voters encountered inside polling locations.
Popular Fort McMurray event planner Mike Jones joked about the experience after voting.
“I’ve seen Disneyland rides with more hidden lineups than this election line-up,” Jones wrote. “Everytime you think you’re at the front another stairwell appears.”
Reached by phone for comment, Jones said the post was meant jokingly and the voting process itself went smoothly despite the unexpected route through the lineup.
Once all polling locations are closed, Elections Alberta says unofficial results will be released in real time as hand counts are completed, confirmed by returning offices and entered into the reporting system.
Counting teams will not wait for other teams in their electoral division before reporting completed results.
All ballots cast through advance voting, special ballots, Election Day voting and mobile voting are being counted by hand.
Advance and special-ballot turnout had already reached 43.1 per cent before Election Day, with 837,791 votes cast during the five-day advance voting period and another 519,082 special ballots.
Elections Alberta says advance and special-ballot counting could begin as early as 5 p.m., while Election Day and mobile ballots cannot be counted until voting closes.
Question 10, dealing with Alberta remaining in Canada or beginning the process toward a future binding referendum on separation, will be counted and reported first.
Questions one through nine will then be counted in order.
Unofficial results will be displayed by question and electoral division, with separate results for Election Day, advance, mobile and special-ballot voting.
The Referendum (General) Regulation requires all counts to be completed and unofficial results published within 48 hours of the confirmed closure of the final voting location.
Elections Alberta says the final count timeline will depend on when voting locations close, where ballots are being counted and voter turnout.
The results remain subject to verification and will not become official until Elections Alberta publishes the certified results on Oct. 29.
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