Alberta Opens 311 Polling Stations for Separation Referendum

Thousands of Albertans began voting in advance on October 13 as the province prepared for a historic referendum on separation from Canada and nine other proposals concerning immigration and constitutional reform. Elections Alberta opened 311 advance voting locations for the five-day voting period ahead of the official referendum day on October 19.

Interest in the referendum has extended to mail-in voting. Elections Alberta reported that approximately 658,000 Albertans had requested special ballots, with about 391,000 returned by Monday evening ahead of the Friday deadline at 5 p.m. The agency also hired approximately 46,000 workers to administer voting and manually count ballots, against a hiring target of 60,000.

Premier Danielle Smith placed 10 questions before voters, including whether Alberta should remain part of Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. The other nine proposals address immigration reform and Canada's Constitution.

At a downtown Edmonton polling station, voters faced a line stretching nearly half a block after voting began at 9 a.m. Some waited between 30 minutes and an hour to cast their ballots, according to Global News.

Among those opposing separation was Christopher Hashmi, who argued that independence could leave Alberta more exposed to pressure from the United States and the oil and gas industry.

"It is obviously a bad idea," Hashmi said of separation.

Hashmi also opposed the other nine proposals, using a slogan associated with critics of Smith's referendum questions. He said he might otherwise have supported abolishing the Senate but did not want his vote interpreted as support for the provincial government.

"no to the nine" was the slogan Hashmi said he followed in opposing the proposals.

Hashmi acknowledged criticism of Canada's appointed upper chamber while expressing broader dissatisfaction with Smith's administration.

"Is the unelected Senate bad? Yes, it sucks. It is an archaic and broken part of our Constitution," Hashmi said.

He also criticized the premier and her government directly.

"But Danielle Smith and her government are a broken and archaic part of my day-to-day life," Hashmi said.

Lizzy Somerville said her support for remaining in Canada was rooted in patriotism. She opposed most of the premier's proposals but supported lobbying other provincial governments to abolish the Senate, which she said should otherwise be elected rather than appointed by the prime minister.

"Canada works better together," Somerville said.

Samara O'Hagan raised concerns about Indigenous land rights, arguing that Alberta's separation debate must account for the rights of Indigenous people.

"I'm Indigenous, so it's very important to me," O'Hagan said.

She said separation could have serious implications for Indigenous land ownership and rights.

"It would just be totally wrong, essentially stealing land from Indigenous people. Alberta should not be able to do that," O'Hagan said.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi was expected to vote at an advance polling location in Calgary on Tuesday, as the campaign entered its final days before the October 19 referendum.

Separately, Elections Alberta confirmed that 17 of the 311 advance voting locations experienced delayed openings because of separate technology problems that had since been resolved. The affected sites received extended closing times on October 13 to ensure voters had access to the full advertised voting hours.