Edmonton votes slow to come in because of labour shortage, tech issues: elections authority

If Edmontonians are still waiting to find out who is the city’s next mayor and city councillors, it’s due to “multiple factors,” according to Edmonton Elections.

“A labour shortage, power outages and technology issues” are among the reasons votes were slow to come in – both on election night and the following day, it specifies.

Those factors impacted the procedures for voting and the counting of ballots, Edmonton Elections explained.

“We know it is taking longer than initially anticipated, but we are working to ensure the confidence and integrity of the vote,” senior communications advisor Jennifer Renner said in a statement.

By 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, only half of the polls in the mayoral vote were reporting – showing Andrew Knack’s lead growing over Tim Cartmell.

READ: Edmonton election: Andrew Knack building lead over Cartmell in mayoral race

Edmonton Elections says it’s aiming to release preliminary results Tuesday.

“As of last night, approximately 60 per cent of all ballots cast were counted. We are currently in the process of checking and releasing the remaining half of last night’s count.

“At the count centre, workers are counting the remaining uncounted ballots from voting stations, special ballots and institutional ballots.”

Ballots are being hand counted this year after the Alberta government banned electronic voting tabulators in municipal elections, despite pushback from municipalities. That was expected to be a major reason for slower results.

One north Edmonton polling station needed to close down — and change change locations — after a power outage on election night.

Results only began rolling in around 10:30 p.m. Monday. By midnight, only seven per cent of the mayoral vote was counted. When counting stopped at 1 a.m., roughly 20 per cent of the polls were reporting.