Albertans must ensure their special ballots reach Elections Alberta by 5 p.m. on Oct. 16 to have them counted. Canada Post recommends mailing ballots by Friday, allowing a week for delivery and possible delays, including those around the holiday. The deadline applies to ballots that have been filled out and mailed back; the Alberta Election Act does not allow voters to return them in person.

Elections Alberta said Wednesday that the final batch of special ballots had gone into production and was mailed Thursday. Canada Post said all of the approximately 652,000 ballots printed had been delivered or would reach voters “shortly.” Its standard lettermail service takes two business days for local delivery and three for provincial delivery. The postal service said it is working closely with Elections Alberta and monitoring mailings. Voters can pay for Priority or Xpresspost service to speed delivery.

A ballot counts as successfully voted once Elections Alberta marks it as received. Electors can check that status through the link in the confirmation email they received after requesting a special ballot. As of Wednesday, about 250,000 mail-in voting packages had been returned and received, the province’s election administrator said.

More than 3,000 returned ballots had errors that could invalidate them. Elections Alberta was contacting those voters by email and giving them a chance to correct the problems.

Albertans who requested a special ballot may still vote in person if Elections Alberta has not marked the ballot as received. There will be 310 advance polling stations open from Oct. 13 to 17, and voters may attend any voting place within their electoral division. Elections Alberta said people who vote in advance before the special ballot deadline will be recorded as having voted, and their special ballot will be rejected if it arrives later.

On election day, Oct. 19, voters must cast their ballots at the voting place assigned to their physical address. Electors can find their assigned location on the Elections Alberta website. The report included files from The Canadian Press.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton.