Elections Alberta says out-of-province mail ballot applications are reviewed and denied

Elections Alberta says it manually checks every special ballot application against its voter registration system and denies applications with invalid or out-of-province details. The explanation follows online claims that people outside Alberta could apply for mail-in ballots for the Oct. 19 referendum without residency checks.

Elections Alberta says it manually reviews every application for a special ballot for Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum and will deny applications that do not match its voter registration records. The office’s response follows viral claims on X that non-Albertans could apply for mail-in ballots without verification, including screenshots that appeared to show applications submitted with addresses outside the province.

One X user posted on Sept. 20 beneath the words “THIS IS INSANE,” quoting a message said to have come from a follower. The message claimed anyone could vote by mail in the referendum regardless of where they lived. “I just registered, I’m from BC, they didn’t ask me anything. Only clicked a box that I’m a Canadian citizen,” it said. The post had more than 201,000 views within 24 hours, and the message also asserted: “No verification of Alberta residents and they will mail the ballot anywhere.”

An Alberta lawyer separately shared a screenshot that appeared to show her application had been submitted using a Vancouver address. “It appears people can put in a residential address outside of Alberta in order to ‘complete the application process,’” she wrote. The screenshot displayed an Elections Alberta confirmation that an application using a Vancouver address had been submitted.

The Canadian Press entered the confirmation code shared by the lawyer into Elections Alberta’s special ballot registration status page on Wednesday. The status showed the application had been denied the day after it was submitted. The page displayed the message: “Your application has been reviewed and declined.”

Elections Alberta spokesperson Maia Hanrahan said in an emailed response that the application page’s first screen is designed to let applicants enter addresses they believe are accurate without the system blocking them. Drop-down menus in the address section offer municipalities outside Alberta, which can allow an application listing another province’s address to be submitted. Hanrahan said submission alone does not mean an application has been approved.

She said staff manually compare every special ballot application with the voter registration system. If the applicant’s information is absent from that system, or does not match its records, the application is denied. “An out-of-province address cannot simply proceed through the process and be approved. While the initial application screen does not automatically block every address that is not recognized by the system, every submission is subject to human review, and no application with an invalid or out-of-province address will be approved or proceed to the next step,” Hanrahan said.

Voters must also include a copy of government-issued identification with their returned mail-in ballot. The ID must show proof of residence in Alberta. Elections Alberta says applicants must have a “place of ordinary residence” in the province, meaning a home where they live or to which they intend to return if temporarily living elsewhere. Residents who have established ordinary residence outside Alberta are not eligible to vote.

Alberta voters will be asked 10 questions in the referendum, covering immigration and Canada’s Constitution. The central question is whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the process of holding a binding referendum on separation. Applications for special ballots are due Friday at midnight. Officials said this week that they had received more than 610,000 requests for mail-in ballots.

Lori Williams, an associate professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the referendum marks the first time special ballots have been made so broadly available in Alberta. Previously, she said, voters had to provide evidence of extraordinary circumstances requiring them to vote by mail. “For example, you won’t be in Alberta during the advance polls or on election day,” Williams said.

Williams said individuals and organizations in Alberta have encouraged voters to register for special ballots to avoid long lineups at voting stations. She said the broader availability has also prompted some online users to test the application page and then make misleading claims based on what they found.

Elections Alberta lists special ballots among the voting options on its website. The process’s address fields may accept details from outside the province at the application stage, but the office says it checks those submissions against its voter registration records before approval. It also requires proof of Alberta residence with the completed ballot.

Lorne Gibson, a former chief electoral officer for Alberta, said jurisdictions use different methods to vet applications for special ballots. Some require identification with the application. “I tend to prefer this approach since it prevents a ballot from ever being sent to a person who is not an eligible voter in the first place,” Gibson said.

In Alberta, Gibson said, Elections Alberta can use VoterLink and the Register of Electors to verify applicants’ information and determine eligibility before mailing a ballot. He also said penalties for attempting to vote illegally can include fines of up to $50,000 and jail terms of up to two years.

Based on reporting by Global News Edmonton.