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 8:30 a.m. Thursday, 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. Counters were prioritizing the results of the separation question; those who voted to remain a part of Canada have consistently outnumbered the separatist camp three to one since results started coming in. 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. More of the other 9 flip The “no” camp has begun to pull ahead on the questions gauging Albertans’ interest in various constitutional reforms. Early Thursday morning, “no” votes outnumbered “yes” votes on questions six through nine, which asked voters if they supported the Alberta government working to change the Canadian Constitution to give provincial governments the authority to select their own justices, to abolish the senate, to opt out of federal programs without losing funding, and to legally prioritize provincial laws over federal laws in areas of shared jurisdiction. Only two of the four questions were showing a “no” majority Wednesday evening. Speaking to reporters earlier on Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith acknowledged that the proposed constitutional reforms appeared less important to voters. “Albertans would just rather that we spend our time focusing on things where we can make some meaningful change,” Smith said. “And I think that’s a message we’ll take away. We have to focus on the things that Albertans want us focusing on.” The “yes” votes were leading the other five questions, which had to do with immigration. With files from The Canadian Press
