Elections Alberta says it’s tallied up the approximate cost of last month’s provincewide referendum: $84 million. The agency, kept busy in the past year by back-to-back slews of recall petitions, citizen initiatives and a historic referendum, asked the government for more than $59 million in extra funding, both for costs incurred and to keep going, on Thursday. About $49 million of that ask is to retroactively support the scope of last month’s 10-ballot referendum, which broke records for its advanced voting lines, special ballot requests, staff hired and ultimate turnout. That number has already been spent and is now an outstanding cost, the agency clarified. Another $9 million is to support the next general provincial election, slated for Oct. 18, 2027. The funding was approved by the UCP-dominant legislative committee Thursday evening. Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure told a legislative committee on Thursday that the nature of the vote – which required the hand counting of 10 ballots per elector – had strained the financial and physical resources of the agency and left them in a “funding shortfall.” Elections Alberta was previously working with a budget of $52 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year. McClure has also been clear about the challenges of turning around both a referendum and, in less than a year, a provincial general election. Exacerbating the time crunch and costs is also an upcoming legislative debate on the redrawing of electoral boundaries across the province expected to delay preparations. Elections Alberta is unable to prepare for an election, it says, until it knows which ridings to prepare. It typically asks for at least a year to prepare for a scheduled election. A finalized annual budget report and request for Elections Alberta’s 2027-28 delivery is expected in December.
