More than 658,000 Albertans applied for a special ballot for the Oct. 19 referendum — roughly 11 times the number requested in the 2023 provincial election. The scale is unprecedented, but the published process is more structured than many of the claims circulating online suggest.
As of Sept. 29, Elections Alberta said it had processed just over 658,000 special-ballot applications. More than 652,000 were approved and sent to electors, while more than 5,700 were rejected for reasons including ineligibility, duplicate requests and invalid address information.
The surge has become one of the referendum’s biggest trust tests. Some online claims portray the volume itself as evidence of wrongdoing. At the same time, documented package errors and a shortened application deadline have raised legitimate questions about administration.
The useful distinction is between claims of fraud and verified procedural problems. They are not the same thing.
How a mail-in referendum ballot is verified
Elections Alberta has published the process used before a special ballot can be counted.
- The outer envelope’s unique elector identifier is matched to the voter’s special-ballot application.
- The signed declaration is checked against the voter registration system.
- The enclosed copy of accepted identification is reviewed to confirm it matches the declaration and voter record, including the signature.
- If the requirements are met, the ballot is accepted and the voter list is updated to show the elector has voted.
- If the requirements are not met, the package is rejected. Elections Alberta says affected electors are notified and may be able to correct missing documents or vote in person.
- For accepted ballots, the sealed inner envelope contains no information identifying the elector. It is routed to the correct electoral division and its ballots are deposited into the appropriate ballot boxes.
Scrutineers may observe the receiving, depositing and counting processes. Elections Alberta says ballot boxes containing special ballots are sealed before secure transport to the counting facility, and scrutineers may sign off at both ends of that transfer.
Why there are so many special ballots this time
The raw increase is large. In the 2023 provincial election, 59,589 special ballots were requested. For the 2026 referendum, Elections Alberta processed more than 658,000 applications.
But the rules also changed. Elections Alberta says the increase can be attributed in part to the removal of the requirement to give a reason for voting by special ballot, the absence of a province-wide “vote anywhere” option, and the complexity of a 10-question ballot that some voters may prefer to complete at home.
The application deadline was also moved forward from Oct. 9 to Sept. 25 because of the volume and the time needed to print, mail, return and verify the packages.
What has actually gone wrong
There have been real administrative problems.
Elections Alberta identified 313 special-ballot packages that were sent with ballots missing. The agency said the production problem was identified and replacement packages were issued.
More recently, Elections Alberta said more than 3,000 returned packages contained errors, including missing declarations or problems with identification. Those ballots are not automatically counted. The affected voters are being contacted and can provide the missing information before the deadline or vote in person if the package is not accepted.
The declaration form also initially included outdated wording suggesting mail-in voters could not later vote in person. Elections Alberta said voters could cross out that line and that later packages would use corrected wording.
These are documented problems. They matter because they affect voter confidence and can result in rejected ballots if they are not corrected. They are not, by themselves, evidence that invalid votes are being counted.
What about claims of bulk ballot applications?
A separate claim circulated online alleging that a political party had used voter-list information to request large numbers of special ballots on behalf of voters.
Reporting by The Canadian Press found that the video clip used to support the claim came from an earlier discussion about voter turnout and did not describe a mail-in ballot operation.
Elections Alberta’s process also creates several checks between an application and a counted ballot. A returned package requires a signed declaration and accepted identification, and the elector is marked as having voted only after the package is verified.
Former Alberta chief electoral officer Lorne Gibson has said a mass application scheme of that kind would not be a practical way to cast fraudulent votes because the returned ballot still has to pass the verification process.
Elections Alberta has also rejected separate online claims suggesting non-Albertans can simply apply and successfully vote by mail. Applications are reviewed for eligibility before ballots are issued, and returned packages must pass identity verification before being accepted.
When are the mail-in ballots counted?
All referendum ballots are counted by hand.
The count for advance-voting and special ballots begins at 5 p.m. on Oct. 19. Election Day ballots are counted after polls close at 8 p.m.
Elections Alberta says Question 10 — the question dealing with Alberta’s place in Canada — will be counted first at each station. The unofficial count for all 10 questions must be completed within 48 hours of polls closing.
No referendum results are released before voting stations close.
What voters with special ballots need to know
Canada Post recommends mailing completed packages by Oct. 9 to improve the chance they arrive on time.
Completed special ballots must be received by Elections Alberta by 5 p.m. on Oct. 16. They cannot be dropped off in person.
If a special ballot has not been marked received and accepted by 5 p.m. on Oct. 18, the elector remains on the voters list and may vote in person on Election Day.
Voters can also choose to vote during advance voting if they are concerned their special ballot will not arrive in time. If they vote in advance, any later-arriving special ballot will be rejected because they have already been marked as voted.
For a broader guide to voting dates and identification requirements, see How to Vote in Alberta’s Oct. 19 Referendum: Dates and ID.
The bigger issue is confidence
The referendum’s mail-in ballot system is under unusually intense scrutiny because of the number of packages involved and the political stakes around Question 10.
There is evidence of administrative mistakes, including missing ballots, outdated declaration wording and thousands of returned packages requiring correction. There is also a published verification process designed to prevent an application alone from becoming a counted vote.
Those two facts can exist at the same time.
What will matter after Oct. 19 is whether the process works at scale: whether valid ballots are accepted, invalid ones are rejected consistently, duplicate voting is prevented, scrutineers can observe the count, and Elections Alberta can produce results within the required 48-hour window.
Until then, the strongest evidence available is the process itself — and the documented problems Elections Alberta has acknowledged publicly.
Sources: Elections Alberta referendum information and special-ballot procedures; Elections Alberta news releases dated Sept. 18 and Oct. 1; The Canadian Press; Global News.
