Elections Alberta failed to meet its 48-hour deadline to deliver the referendum results. As the last poll closed at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, it had a mandate to finish counting ballots by 10:59 p.m. Wednesday. As of 6:30 a.m. Thursday, about 19.4 million ballots had been counted, with 97 per cent of voting locations reporting. “Our teams continue to work around the clock and we are not estimating a time for completion for Oct. 22,” Elections Alberta said in a statement. “We knew hand counting the referendum was going to be a monumental task…. Despite the efforts of more than 47,000 election workers, it just hasn’t been possible. We’ll continue to count ballots until the job is done.” Each voter received 10 ballots with questions about immigration, constitutional reform, and Alberta separating from Canada. Originally, Elections Alberta said it would need to hire 60,000 workers for the referendum. Official results, including voter turnout, are scheduled to be delivered on Oct. 29.
