St. Albert is preparing for a mock election count in the coming weeks to get ready for the municipal election in October.
It is a rehearsal for necessary adjustments because of the removal of electronic tabulators required by the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, also known as Bill 20, passed by the province in the fall of 2024, which prohibits the use of alternative voting equipment such as voting machines, vote recorders, automated voting systems or tabulators.
Grace Magyar is with Legislative Services in St. Albert and spoke about the desire to do a mock count at the St. Albert Policing Committee Tuesday (March 11).
"We want to do a mock count, so that'll help us make sure that our procedure is done correctly, accurately, and quickly," Magyar told the committee. She said a lot of the plans are in the beginning stages, and they're currently looking for city and council committee volunteers to participate with the exception of current candidates. She added residents and other staff may possibly join the mock count.
"We don't know how long [the ballot count] is going to take and that's why the mock count is really important," she said, adding she was in Calgary for a byelection where they were doing sort and count, and the rate was estimated at 500 per hour.
She said they're looking at two types of counts, sort and count and call and tally. Sort and count is where the ballots are taken out of the ballot box carefully, then sorted and counted. She said this type of count would be more suitable to one position.
"Call and tally is similar to the provincial and federal government elections, where they call them out and they're tallied on a tick sheet."
Magyar also added they hope to hire 200 election workers in June for the election in October. She said while workers should be at least 18 years old to handle ballots, there may be an opportunity for students for positions like greeters, depending on the amount of roles they need filled.
"For deputy returning officers and presiding deputy officers, they will have to be 18 or over. But we're looking at that there could be an opportunity for 16- to 17-year-olds to be a part of it, possibly as greeters. But that's still all in the beginning stages," she said.
