Its election day in municipalities across Alberta, but some voters in the province’s two biggest cities tell Global News they had to wait upwards of two hours to cast their ballot.
In Edmonton on Monday night, the city said more standby workers were deployed to deal with the backlog but acknowledged voting stations have experienced delays due to staff shortages.
“We did have some election workers who were hired, trained and assigned to voting stations, but unfortunately, their circumstances changed and they were not able to join us today,” the city said just before 7:30 p.m. as residents reported waiting several hours in line.
Voting stations are now closed. If you’re in line, you can still vote!
Once voters leave a station, counting will begin.
Some results will be available tonight, we expect to continue counting tomorrow, Oct. 21.
To view results, visit https://t.co/tRKRnG41rN. pic.twitter.com/gG7vGQ17hS
— Edmonton Elections (@EdmElections) October 21, 2025
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In some cases the lineups were so long, people walked away without even voting in Edmonton and Calgary.
“I’m surprised by the length of the lineup,” said Michael Cooper as he waited for his turn to vote in Calgary in the early evening.
Chris Gerien, who voted at Colonel Walker School in Inglewood, said there weren’t enough Elections Calgary workers inside the school to deal with the long lineups.
“I waited two hours in line,” said Gerien “They needed to fill out a form for every single voter and it’s all duplicate information for your address, postal code name and age which is already on the voter list.”
There are similar stories of frustration from voters in every corner of Calgary.
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At St. Alphonsus School in the northeast part of the city, the lineup to vote was wrapped around the outside of the building, prompting some people to turn away without voting.
Some voters in both Calgary and Edmonton told Global News, the lineups at some polls were so long, the decided not to vote.
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In an emailed update on Monday afternoon, Elections Calgary said 46 per cent of polling stations were reporting wait times of 10 minutes or less.
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It blamed the long delays on new provincial legislation (Bill 20) that requires election workers to check a new “permanent electors register” to confirm a person’s eligibility to vote.
Officials in Edmonton said the same thing.
“All electors are legislatively required to complete a Statement of Eligibility form (Form 13) at the voting station. This form is a declaration by an elector that they meet the required legislated criteria to receive and cast ballots,” Elections Edmonton said.
“We ask Edmontonians to plan ahead and please have patience.”
If voters aren’t on the register, they can still vote but must produce one piece of government-issued ID, in addition to proof of their current address such as a lease agreement or bank statement.
Voters who aren’t on the register, but want vote in the school board election, public or separate, must also complete a statement confirming they are eligible to vote.
Those casting ballots say confirming voters are on the register or completing the necessary paperwork takes three to five minutes per voter.
1:54
New rules for municipal political parties, donations in Alberta under Bill 20
The problem has been exacerbated by the Canada Post strike because in past elections, registered voters would’ve received a voter information card in the mail.
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The changes this year are also causing long lineups at polls in Edmonton, with some voters on Monday evening saying they waited up to two hours to cast a ballot.
“Long, long lineup ahead of us and it looked like it was taking five minutes-ish per person so we did some math and figured out we’d have to come back later,” said voter Neil Fitzpatrick.
At this poll in the Edmonton neighbourhood of Delton, some voters told Global News they had been in line for 30 minutes and were still no closer to the front.
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“I think it’s a problem when people have to wait that long it’s certainly going to perhaps slant the results (because) some people might end up walking away,” said voter Greg Plouffe.
That’s a concern shared by at least one Edmonton mayoral candidate.
“When people who are on a busy schedule — if they are seeing the lines, it may deter them to vote,” said Rahim Jaffer.
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“We hope that won’t happen but I’m afraid it could be an outcome.”
Global News has reached out to the Alberta government department of Municipal Affairs for a response to the voters concerns about the long lineups, but as of publishing had not received a response.
There are also expected to be long delays in determining the outcome of many of the races this year because the new provincial legislation also prevents the use of electronic tabulators and instead requires all the ballots to be counted by hand.
That means it could be several days before voters know who the winners are.
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