Elections Alberta rejects claims non-Albertans can obtain special ballots for October referendum

Social media users raised questions this weekend about whether non-Albertans could participate in Alberta's October 19 referendum by obtaining special ballots online. Elections Alberta rejected those claims in a series of posts on its verified X account over the weekend, saying no ballot would be issued without a valid voter record match.

"Without a valid voter record match, the application would not be approved and a ballot would not be sent," Elections Alberta said in response to one user. The agency confirmed that identification is required during voter registration and again when voting by special ballot. "The voter registration site you've linked requires identification as well. Special ballots also require the same ID as voting in person," it posted.

The questions stemmed from concerns about how voter eligibility is verified, whether residency checks are conducted, and whether the system could be exploited. Elections Alberta noted that even if a ballot were issued improperly, the returned special-ballot package must still meet identification requirements before acceptance and counting.

As of September 18, Elections Alberta reported receiving nearly 520,000 special-ballot applications. About 7,200 applications were delayed due to addressing errors, typos and other issues. A production error resulted in 313 special-ballot packages sent without ballots before replacement packages were issued.

Special-ballot applications close September 25. Advance voting runs October 13 to 17. Referendum voting day is October 19. The clarification comes as election officials work through a high volume of mail-in voting requests ahead of what is expected to be a heavily attended vote.