Some transgender Albertans' referendum ballots show wrong gender and name, Elections Alberta confirms

Rowan Venedam changed their gender four years ago and voted with the correct information in the last election. But when Venedam requested a special ballot for Alberta's fall referendum, it showed their gender as female—the outdated designation.

Venedam isn't alone. Venedam, who runs Trans Action Alberta, has heard from 26 other Albertans facing the same issue. One person had changed their name and gender 15 years ago and had never voted with any other information in Alberta, yet their ballot still carried outdated details.

Artie Four, from Calgary, also saw wrong names and gender on their ballot despite updating the information with Elections Alberta before requesting it. Four voted in the previous election without issue.

Elections Alberta spokesperson Maia Hanrahan said the agency heard from two people about the problem. She explained: "If an elector's name change is not reflected on their special ballot, it indicates their voter registration record is not updated with their name change." The agency directs affected people to contact the special ballot team at 1-877-672-1365.

Venedam described the shock of opening the ballot: "When I opened my ballot and saw that my gender was female, I was shocked because I had changed it over four years ago." The uncertainty about whether the vote would be counted compounds the harm. "So I know for some folks seeing this, it is very devastating. It's incredibly painful, but it also is frightening of what could happen in the future," Venedam said.

Four echoed the frustration: "So my first thought was, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to vote, and I would really love to be able to have a say in this. But I think when trans people in Alberta have already been so beaten down by this government, there's that eye roll of like, 'the Alberta government is doing it again.' They don't seem to like us."

Venedam framed the issue plainly: "I think for folks who don't live a trans experience, it can be hard to understand why this is an issue. But imagine if you walked in and you presented your ID and it said male, but the voter registration said female. That would also be alarming to you. It would be confusing to you. It's alarming and confusing to us too, for the same reasons."