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A voting machine used during the 2017 Red Deer municipal election. (File photo)
"we'll be ready"

Pandemic election planning underway at The City of Red Deer

Oct 26, 2020 | 4:46 PM

Municipal elections in Alberta are less than a year away.

On Monday, Red Deer city council approved its Election Bylaw, which sets out dates, voting hours, rules around eligibility, election outreach, and how votes for school board trustees will be held.

The next municipal election will take place on Oct. 18, 2021.

All technical things aside, the City must also consider the stark possibility that an election one year from now will happen during a pandemic.

Approving COVID-19-related measures will be approved much closer to election day, says Frieda McDougall, the returning officer and legislative services manager, though work is already ongoing.

“Things we’re going to be considering include our venues and if they are big enough to accommodate physical distancing, what the impacts of lineups would be, and making sure things like touch screens and marking devices are all sanitized and disinfected,” she says. “If we can’t fully ensure physical distancing, then are we going to be providing masks to all people who come to vote? We’re looking at absolutely everything.”

What The City of Red Deer is predicting will be more popular come election time is voting without needing to go a physical poll.

“The big thing we’d be promoting at that point is our six days of advance voting, and encouraging people to get out early,” McDougall says, noting the City traditionally sets aside just five dates. “We also have special ballots, which is the equivalent of a mail-in ballot. We’ve got a whole series of possible options and we’ll be ready to mobilize on any and all of them.”

The City also anticipates one or more referendum questions to wind up on ballots, via the province. Questions the provincial government has already indicated may be included are related to Senate election and equalization reform.

Another difference next year, separate from the municipality’s legislation, is how third-party advertisers are regulated by the Local Authorities Election Act. This summer, the UCP removed spending restrictions on third-party advertisers outside the campaign period (May 1 until election day), effective Sept. 1, 2020.

Third-party advertisers are still required to register with the municipality or school board which they intend their advertising to be about, unless they are advertising in more than ten jurisdictions. In that case, they may register with a provincial registrar. They must also file disclosure statements.

Rules related to signage will also be formalized early in the new year.

“It’s hard to say if the City will seek financial assistance from the province related to costs from pandemic-related measures,” McDougall adds. “We are ball-parking that it will cost about $100,000 more than normal to run the election during a pandemic.”