FORT McMURRAY — The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is asking voters to share their experiences from the October 20 municipal election as part of a new effort to improve how future votes are delivered.
The municipality launched a short poll and a longer survey on November 13 to gather feedback on voter experience, with responses accepted over the next three weeks. The poll takes less than a minute to complete, while the survey takes about three minutes. Both are available at rmwb.ca/voterexperience, and all responses are anonymous. The results will be summarized in a What We Heard report that will guide planning for the 2029 municipal election.
“This was the first municipal election since the recent provincial changes to voter legislation,” returning officer Jade Brown said in a statement. “We want to learn from this year’s experience to continue improving accessibility, communication and overall voter participation.”
The survey asks residents how they learned about the election, what worked well, what barriers may have prevented some people from voting and how voter participation could be encouraged in 2029.
About 25 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot this year, compared with roughly 22 per cent in 2021. Advance voting was offered for two weeks at nine locations in Fort McMurray and surrounding rural communities. The municipality says public input will help identify further opportunities to improve accessibility.
This election was also the first where the province required all ballots to be counted by hand rather than scanned electronically. The change led to delays in reporting final results and caused long lineups in some Alberta communities. The RMWB declared its official results on October 24.
Residents can contact Pulse at 780-743-7000 or rmwb.ca/pulse for more information.
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