While the provincial referendum is “a significant undertaking,” what Albertans saw “was relatively typical of any large election event,” an Elections Alberta spokesperson said Tuesday morning as workers continued counting ballots from the previous day’s vote. Kevin Duncan said most delays at 106 of the province’s 1,400 polling stations were in the 10- to 15-minute range. “There was a variety of scenarios, some of which were staffing, some of which were technical difficulties,” Duncan told CTV News Edmonton. “Any location that experienced delays stayed open later to accommodate and allow as many voters as possible to vote.” Early results of the referendum’s separation question are showing about 76 per cent of voters choosing to remain in Canada, eschewing the option to hold a second, binding referendum on Alberta becoming an independent country. Results for the remaining nine questions are closer and are still being counted. The turnout for the referendum is expected to be high. Elections Alberta said it expects about 80 per cent of the 3.1 million eligible voters to cast ballots in the referendum. More than 1.3 million voters cast ballots in both advance polls and via mail-in ballots. Duncan said ballots are being counted at centralized hubs or at polling stations, depending on where they were cast. “For any vote that occurred at a school, we can’t stay there for 48 hours because kids have to return, so some of those ballot boxes were safely and securely moved to a centralized hub,” he said. Elections Alberta told CTV News Edmonton unofficial results are due to be in 48 hours after the last poll closes, so by 10:41 p.m. on Wednesday, and that they expect to release official results on Oct. 29. Elections staff also remained active on social media and responded to private messages as they worked to deliver “a vote with integrity.” “(We were) really just trying to respond as quickly as possible to help people,” Duncan said. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Kent Morrison
