Hiring fair launches to recruit final ballot counters for Edmonton fall election
Posted September 16, 2025 3:29 pm.
Last Updated September 16, 2025 8:24 pm.
A hiring fair kicked off Tuesday at NorQuest College as election officials race to fill the fewer than 1,000 ballot counter positions still needed ahead of Edmonton’s upcoming fall election.
Open recruitment began in mid-July to attract roughly 4,000 election workers to fill 5,000 positions on Election Day (Oct. 20) and during advance voting (Oct. 7 to 11).
“We needed more workers this election, and Edmontonians have definitely been showing up,” said Aileen Giesbrecht, Returning Officer for Edmonton Elections. “We’re almost fully staffed, but there are still some amazing opportunities to be part of the team.”
Officials say the response so far has been significant, with more than 5,000 applications received by early September. Due to this, voting stations are fully staffed for both advance voting and Election Day.
The goal for the final recruitment drive will be to find workers for half-day counting shifts that begin once voting stations close on Oct. 20, a new legislated requirement this fall.
Edmonton Elections is also recruiting standby workers to fill in on Election Day as needed on an emergency basis, and to continue hand-counting ballots on Oct. 21 if necessary.
The age limit of election workers was also dropped to 16-years-old.
