St. Albert voters will have until Aug. 15 to sign up for the permanent electors register, a tool the city is using for the October municipal election.
The permanent electors register is new for 2025, designed to make certain aspects of the voting process easier for both voters and city staff on election day. It's required under the province's new Bill 20 that voters be listed under an election's register.
"Every municipality in Alberta has to maintain a register," St. Albert's substitute returning officer, Janice Vollrath said. She said they get their initial register from Elections Alberta, and then provide a copy of the updated register back to the province.
She said voters should be fairly familiar with the idea of a register from federal elections, and the system with municipalities will look nearly identical.
"You usually get a voter card in the mail, tells you where you vote and you have to be on the list," Vollrath said. "And they open that big book at the voting station and they find your name and you're struck off the list and you vote."
The register is run off the same software the province runs its system on, Vollrath said. She said one of the major benefits of the new system is the live strike-off feature, which allows staff to strike off people who have already voted and have the register updated immediately.
"Because of the live strike off, we're able to introduce vote anywhere in St. Albert, which is going to be the first time we've done that. So you no longer have to be designated to a voting subdivision," she said, adding the idea of being able to vote anywhere is something the city has heard from residents for years.
"It could reduce lines, it could give people more options if you're at your kid's hockey game and you look across the hall and you're like, 'I could go vote today,' you can actually go do that. You don't have to be part of that subdivision to go vote there," she said.
During the June 10 standing committee of the whole meeting Marta Caufield, the director of legal, legislative and records services, said there will be five voting stations available on election day. They are the St. Albert Alliance Church, Red Willow Place, the Kinsmen Club of St. Albert, St. Albert Inn, and Servus Place.
"It would be more convenient for voters if they go to a voting station and there is a long lineup, they have the option to be able to go to a different voting station," Vollrath said.
She said residents shouldn't be worried about the idea of someone using the "vote anywhere" system to vote at multiple locations, because of the live strike-off feature in the register.
"Everything we're doing is to make sure that everyone who deserves to vote and has a right to vote is able to vote, but also that no one is able to vote more than once," Caufield said at the recent committee meeting.
"There is also a statement that is sworn by the voter that says, 'I have not already voted in this election,'" Vollrath said in an interview.
Residents can go to voterlink.ab to add themselves to the province's register, which will add them to St. Albert's. The deadline is Aug. 15 to be added on their register by the 2025 municipal election. Voters who miss the deadline will simply have to bring in the required ID and be added at the voting station on election day.
