A reversal of the province’s new ban on electronic voting machines is among the lobby positions St. Albert hopes Alberta Municipalities (AbMunis) adopt this year.
The group representing the homes of 85 per cent of Alberta’s population is holding its annual general meeting Sept. 27 in Red Deer.
As always, a major component of the brouhaha will be the debating of resolutions, which if adopted become arguing points for the coming year.
The 2024 Resolutions Book contains 27 draft positions. St. Albert authored four of them: Allowance of Automated Vote Counting Systems in Municipal Elections; Provincial Education Property Tax Reform; Preventative Psychological Services Support for Municipal First Responders and Emergency Dispatchers, and Provincial Support for Watershed Management.
Vote counting systems
Mayor Cathy Heron, who will be heading down to the convention for a meeting of mid-sized city mayors Tuesday, will act as the primary spokesperson for this resolution, according to the book.
It calls on AbMunis to advocate the province to permit municipalities to use the vote counting system of their choice “including automated vote counting systems, to ensure accurate, cost-effective and timely results for Albertan voters.”
The machines, which have been in use in some places for decades, were banned when Alberta enacted Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statues Amendment Act.
Heron said that if ballots have to be manually counted, future votes would require additional election workers and the city expects results will be significantly delayed.
“The results are going to be delayed. We're predicting at least three to four days, if not more. So on election night, you will not get your answers, which is going to be kind of frustrating for the candidates,” she said.
St. Albert’s convention resolution notes that in municipal elections, ballots often contain several individual votes, such as choosing the mayor, councillors, school board trustees, senate nominees, provincial referendums, and local plebiscites. Aside from the time it takes to manually count each ballot, the process would increase the risk of votes not being counted and vote counting errors, the motion states.
Preventing human errors in ballot counting was part of the reason the province initially chose to use electronic tabulators, Heron said.
“The province allowed municipalities to bring in their electronic counting machines to eliminate any question of reliability, because they felt at the time that the electronic machines were better than human counts,” Heron said.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver has said the province did not have concerns about the reliability of vote counting machines, but that distrust in the machines among voters threatened to undermine trust in elections outcomes.
Some of the messaging around tabulators has “some echoes of some of the mistrust of the voting machines down in the States,” Heron said. “But I think it's important to note that these are just counting machines you don't actually vote on it. You still have to have your piece of paper and your pencil,” Heron said.
An administrative report to Red Deer council earlier this month estimated getting rid of vote tabulators would make the 2025 election 3.5 times more expensive than previous years. Heron said St. Albert has not yet calculated its own additional election costs but will be reviewing business cases and funding options in upcoming budget talks.
A return to manual ballot counting was one of the bill’s “most impactful changes” according to a briefing note for council, one that could cost St. Albert alone hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Although a manual hand-count might be feasible in provincial elections where a resident is voting for one candidate, municipal election ballots are far more complex; in St. Albert’s last election, 17,500 ballots were cast, each with seven separate votes for 17 total elected positions in addition to provincial-based referendum questions,” the note reads. “Municipalities should continue to have the choice to administer their local elections in the way that best serves their community, whether it be by manual hand-count or by electronic voting equipment.”
Keeping more cash
Coun. Wes Brodhead is listed as the primary spokesperson for draft resolution B3, which, if adopted, would see AbMunis pressure Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver to allow municipalities to keep more of the education taxes they collect on behalf of the province.
McIver was directed to do so in the mandate letter he received from Premier Danielle Smith Aug. 4, 2023.
The change would see municipalities “receive provincial funding for municipal infrastructure equal to or greater than what is collectively requisitioned in provincial education property tax on an annual basis for the Government of Alberta.”
According to the St. Albert briefing note, the province in its 2024 budget forecasts collecting $2.7 billion in education property tax. The figure grows to $3 billion within three years, and that growth is putting ever more pressure on municipal infrastructure.
“If the province were to allocate less than half of education property tax income municipalities collect on its behalf for municipal priorities, it would fully address the additional $1 billion in municipal infrastructure funding that Alberta Municipalities have been advocating for.”
Supporting first responders
Coun. Ken MacKay is the spokesperson for this draft resolution, which would see AbMunis call on the province to provide funding to municipalities for “psychological services to municipal first responders and emergency dispatchers to reduce the risk of psychological injury and the associated tax burden treat such injuries, in addition to bolstering emergency medical services response services in Alberta.”
Before Operational Stress is such a program, which has been shown to improve the mental resiliency of first responders and could reduce the frequency and/or duration of medical leaves of absence to treat conditions such as post-traumatic-stress disorder, according to the St. Albert report.
“If we are asking our first responders to be on the front line where they will certainly witness traumatic events, it is only right that we arm them with the tools and support they need to be resilient and as prepared as they can be to do so … while also reducing the financial, operational, and collegial impact their subsequent healing necessitates.”
Protecting watersheds
MacKay is also the spokesperson for this resolution, which would see AbMunis lobby the province to increase enforcement, data collection and information sharing with municipalities with regard to the Water Act and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
The resolution also envisions engagement between local governments and the province to work toward achieving the goals of the Water for Life Strategy, "the vehicle for managing Alberta's water resources" since 2003.
The resolution argues that inadequate resourcing and enforcement at the provincial level leaves it to municipalities to protect watersheds, particularly smaller ones away from major rivers such as the North Saskatchewan.
“Municipalities are often left to make critical decisions based on incomplete or missing data, and as a result, issues such as nonpoint source pollution and associated ecological impacts are not adequately monitored, with potential negative consequences for our residents,” the draft reads. “Furthermore, Water Act approvals are often granted without adequate municipal consultation, impacting ongoing initiatives and efforts to manage our watersheds.
“Alberta is facing challenges to our waterways and watersheds, including flood and drought, climate extremes, invasive species, and pollutant contamination. Through this resolution, we call on the Government of Alberta to direct more resources towards bolstering the application of its legislation … to help us better manage and protect our vital aquatic resources.”
-With files from Brett McKay
