Better training for civic election workers planned in wake of Edmonton voting delays

Edmonton's auditor found new provincial rules, including a ban on tabulation machines, complicated the most recent municipal election. Jeremy Thompson reports.

The returning officer for last year’s municipal election in Edmonton told the city’s audit committee on Wednesday she plans to improve training after the voting process left some staff and voters frustrated.

A report from the City of Edmonton’s auditor delivered to council last week found that inadequate training for poll workers and confusing new forms in October’s municipal election led to confusion and delays.

A preliminary report last week by Edmonton Elections also highlighted issues for staff, saying “specific feedback from election workers suggested that more hands-on training in the use of the ‘electronic electors register’ as well as completion of the forms was needed.”

Changes to the local elections process came two years ago this spring, when the provincial government passed the Local Authorities Election Act. The legislation banned electronic tabulators in favour of hand-counting ballots and introduced the need for municipalities to create a permanent electors register that required voters’ information such as name and address in order to be able to cast a ballot.

Edmonton Elections surveyed more than 8,000 workers and voters about the voting experience on Oct. 20.

Most voters reported it took them less than 30 minutes to cast a ballot, while 16 per cent said it took more than an hour.

Aileen Giesbrecht, the returning officer for Edmonton Elections, told the committee on Wednesday she plans to improve future training for election workers. Training for last year’s election included a two-hour self-guided online course and another few hours with an instructor.

It was a major undertaking, given how many people needed training.

“We had over 6,400 people working in this election, and I had low 3,000s in 2021,” Giesbrecht said.

City councillor Jon Morgan asked Giesbrecht about an issue at a polling station in his ward, where five ballot boxes had gone uncounted on election day. While Edmonton Elections says those boxes were never missing, Geisbrecht explained new rules contributed to the mix-up.

“We found that extremely confusing,” she said. “We were required to put spoiled ballots, all election forms and any additional paperwork into ballot boxes, so we counted all the ballot boxes, but not all the ballot boxes had ballots in them.”

The provincial municipal affairs ministry said last week it is conducting its own review of the Local Authorities Election Act early this year. Edmonton Elections is expected to give a comprehensive debrief in the coming months.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson