HUGE VOTER TURNOUT

Unofficial results show 70 per cent of eligible Albertans cast ballots,

CALGARY— More than 12 hours after the United Conservative Party declared election victory with a majority government in Alberta, the results of some hotly contested ridings remain up in the air.

Less than a thousand votes separate first- and secondplace candidates in at least eight ridings across the province as of Wednesday, with nearly all polls reporting.

These results are still unofficial, because about 223,000 ballots have not yet been counted. These were the Vote Anywhere ballots, part of a first-time Elections Alberta initiative that allowed people to cast their vote for their home riding at advance polling stations anywhere in the province.

Early estimates from Elections Alberta show 1.88 million people voted in this year’s provincial election.

These unofficial results indicate voter turnout could be as high as 70 per cent.

This is a dramatic increase from 2015, which saw 57 per cent voter turnout.

Elections Alberta has said it hopes to have all Vote Anywhere ballots counted by this weekend, but indicated official results could be delayed until April 26.

The still-contested ridings won’t be enough to change the UCP majority.

One of the closest ridings is Edmonton—West Henday, where less than 200 votes separate NDP incumbent Jonathan Carson and UCP candidate Nicole Williams. Elections Alberta reported 3,969 Vote Anywhere ballots need to be counted in this riding.

Less than 200 votes also separate the UCP and NDP candidates in Calgary-Falconridge, who both hope to become firsttime MLAs. The UCP’s Devinder Toor holds a slight lead over the NDP’s Parmeet Singh Boparai in this newly created riding where there are 1,714 Vote Anywhere ballots to be counted.