Alberta's chief electoral officer wants boundary changes delayed or the 2027 election pushed back
Gordon McClure says a year is not enough time to properly implement new electoral maps before the October 2027 vote.
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Alberta's chief electoral officer, Gordon McClure, has asked the province to either delay contentious electoral boundary changes until after the Oct. 18, 2027 provincial general election, or push the election itself back.
McClure's reason is time. In a letter to House Speaker Ric McIver and MLAs, obtained by Postmedia and dated Friday, he wrote that "should new boundaries be established, Elections Alberta requires sufficient time for the orderly establishment, mapping, implementation, and operational preparation of the electoral boundaries." A year, he said, will not give the agency enough time or resources to do that properly.
Without settled maps, Elections Alberta would have to plan two ways at once. "Elections Alberta can not conduct election readiness activities while preparing concurrently for two different electoral boundary scenarios: one under the existing electoral boundaries; and one under new maps," McClure wrote.
The work involved in a new-map election is substantial: establishing electoral geography, developing and validating maps, updating electoral information systems, preparing election infrastructure, and coordinating operations for a province-wide vote. McClure also said recent media reports raised the possibility that proposed boundaries could face a legal challenge, which he said adds uncertainty to an already compressed schedule. He added that his office respects the roles of both government and the courts.
The last electoral boundaries commission was established Oct. 31, 2016, one year after the 2015 provincial election and three years before the 2019 vote.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, speaking Friday, accused the UCP of trying to "bring in election maps only meant to deliver a win for the UCP in the next election no matter what voters want." He said Elections Alberta warned Premier Danielle Smith months ago that it needs 12 to 18 months to implement new maps under perfect conditions, and that the agency says it does not have enough time to implement the UCP's map for the fixed October 27 election date.
The government's response to McClure's request has not been made public. A minority report on the proposed boundaries is expected to be released Monday in the legislature; its contents are not yet known.
