With 10 questions and 10 separate ballots, Albertans brace for a 'gong show' referendum vote

While some Albertans want to set the province on a path toward separation on Oct. 19, federalists are counting on voters who want to remain in Canada to show up and translate the consistently high polling support for staying into a clear message at the ballot box.

“What I would urge people to think about is that supporting Alberta staying in Canada, it’s a small price to pay to line up for an hour, given what Canada and Alberta gives to people,” said former Alberta MP and cabinet minister Monte Solberg.

Solberg, who is among those behind the third-party advertiser Vote to Stay, sees indications suggesting the referendum will see high voter turnout as benefitting the remain side.

While separatist camps have also been pushing their supporters to request mail-in ballots — including for farmers working the harvest season — Corey Hogan, the Liberal MP for Calgary Confederation, also views the volume of mail ballots requested as good news. 

Still, Hogan says, he is concerned about how the weight of what is required of Elections Alberta to run the referendum may impact voters, particularly in cities where the bedrock of support to remain lies. 

“I worry that you’re going to be there as a remain voter and you might be facing down a very long line and saying, ‘Is this worth it?’” he told the Star. 

“I guess the thing I would say is, it’s absolutely worth it. You do not want to be in a situation where afterwards you’re saying, ‘Geez, I wish I’d shown up so there could have been a strong result and we could have put this to bed.’”

To staff polling stations, Elections Alberta has been on a hiring spree to recruit 60,000 workers, with a little more than half of those positions filled from 55,000 applications received. The agency says it is still looking for more people to work in rural areas. 

While the agency said in June that such a number was needed to “achieve the 48-hour deadline to complete the unofficial ballot count,” spokesperson Maia Hanrahan told the Star in an email that the figure allows for “maximum efficiency and is not the minimum required to conduct the event successfully.”

Beyond the manpower needed to run the referendum are the logistics of voting itself. 

While the question of whether Albertans wish to remain in Canada or start the process of holding a binding vote on separating may be the most controversial, it is but one of 10 the voters will be asked. 

The other nine referendum questions revolve around reforms Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has advanced around the province taking greater control of the immigration system and working with other provinces on constitutional reforms to appoint its own judges to federal courts. 

According to Elections Alberta, “each question will be on a separate numbered and colour-coded ballot,” save for those arriving by mail that will be white.

Once voters fill out each of their 10 ballots at a polling station, they will have to place each in its own coloured box. 

Hogan described the system as “not confidence-inspiring” after a recent demonstration run by the agency about how it will work.

“Condolences to Elections Alberta for having to figure this out,” he said.

Conservative MP David Bexte, who represents the riding of Bow River, called the vote an “extraordinary event.” 

“I just hope Elections Alberta has got everything organized, and we’ll have a good referendum,” he added.

Dane Lloyd, the Edmonton-area Conservative MP behind a third-party advertising group, said in a statement that with the mail-in deadline approaching, it was important for voters to make a plan, saying “voter turnout will be critical.” 

Stephen Carter, one of the founders behind Alberta’s Voice, another third-party advertiser on the remain side, says they have found success since shifting their message to encourage supporters to vote by mail. 

He cites the experience voters had during the province’s 2025 municipal elections, which were run under a new set of voter identification rules. Voters in some cases waited upwards of more than an hour to cast a ballot. 

“With 10 ballots we’re quite certain it’s going to be long lineups,” he told the Star. 

Elections Alberta has said it is printing a whopping 45 million ballots — more than double the 19.8 million cast across the entire country in the 2025 federal election. 

Another key factor driving when Albertans — and the rest of the country — will find out the results: The elimination of electronic tabulators and machines. 

That means every ballot will be counted by hand. 

Smith’s government eliminated the use of tabulators and automated machines back in 2024. She has said the move to require hand-counting of votes was to “protect election integrity.”

Other changes made at the time included the requirement for voters to cast ballots where they live and expanding the use of mail-in ballots, which is another factor driving the current spike. 

While Carter believes locking in early votes will be key to the remain side’s success, and while other federalists say momentum appears to be growing, he says the campaign has been a “battle.”

“It’s been a gong show of a referendum.”