Mixup comes to light in advance voting during public school board trustee race

Some voters have cast a ballot in the wrong board trustee race for Edmonton Public Schools because of incorrect information given by election workers at select advance polling stations.

On Thursday afternoon, Edmonton Elections returning officer Aileen Giesbrecht said in “limited instances” during the first three days of advance polls, voters were given a ballot for a school board ward they don't reside in because the “where to vote” tool used to confirm addresses wasn't fully refreshed.

Giesbrecht said the issue is believed to be limited, having heard from 40 people about this concern. For advance polls, there is one voting station per council ward, but the nine public school board boundaries are different and overlap the other boundaries.

Of those people who reached out, some recognized the issue and corrected it before voting. Others cast a ballot incorrectly, but Giesbrecht said the voting process has been completed and nothing can be done to change the vote and allow the residents to vote in the correct ward.

“Once the voter has received their ballots, gone behind the secrecy screen and cast their ballot, the voting process is completed.

I'm not able or permitted to reconnect the voter registration form and ballot they then cast,” she told reporters Thursday afternoon. “We are in the process of reaching out to every voter who has contacted us with this concern. We are reinforcing with our Edmonton Elections team the validation process when providing a ballot to a voter.”

Changes are being made as of Thursday, Giesbrecht said, to ensure the issue is fixed, including additional staffing and a verification process from a second set of eyes to ensure the right ballot is being given to voters. Giesbrecht said the maps in each voting station and the online tool informing Edmontonians of their wards are correct.

There may have also been connectivity issues in polling stations leading to a delay for the whereto-vote information to load, Giesbrecht said, adding staff have been advised to ensure the webpage is fully refreshed.

“If there are issues, we'd like to hear about them,” she said. “We're doing everything we can to ensure this has been corrected on a goforward basis.”

Voters are reminded to know their wards before heading to the polls and to check their ballot before voting. Anyone with concerns or who voted in the wrong race is asked to contact Edmonton Elections at elections@edmonton.ca or 780-442-8683.

In three days, more than 19,000 people have voted in advance polls.