Only half of PC members have registered to vote in referendum on unity
As Tories began voting Thursday on a proposed unity deal with the Wildrose, only about half of the Progressive Conservative party’s approximately 50,000 members were registered to cast their ballot. The cut-off for registering to vote was Tuesday midnight, but PC Leader Jason Kenney said Thursday it was a “soft deadline.” PC members are still able to contact the party to receive the PIN needed to vote either online or by telephone. “My understanding is about 25,000 have registered,” Kenney told reporters as he cast his ballot by computer. “The truth is that it’s a complex administration process that some people may have been challenged by. They have to go through a multi-step process.” PC party executive director Janice Harrington said the registration deadline was set up to facilitate the voting process. But the party always intended that anyone holding a membership by July 12 would still be able to sign up even after the registration cut-off. Voting will run through 6 p.m. Saturday. By around 11 a.m. Thursday, about 3,300 Tories had voted. Kenney said that even if the number of actual votes cast comes in lower than 25,000, he’s confident “this will be the single-largest democratic decision ever taken by a political party in Alberta history on an internal governance matter.” The Tories need 50 per cent plus one for the unity agreement to be ratified while Wildrose has a 75-per-cent threshold. If successful, the parties will join together in a new United Conservative Party. Wildrose will hold a special meeting Saturday in Red Deer, but all voting is done electronically and members can participate remotely. Under the Wildrose system, members received their voting PINs by mail. Wildrose executive director Jeremy Nixon said Thursday that while some members had raised concerns earlier in the week about not receiving their PINs, almost all had received their letters in the past few days. Wildrosers who still hadn’t received their voting information can contact the party for assistance.
The truth is that it’s a complex administration process that some people may have been challenged by. They have to go through a multi-step process.