Coaldale councillors want to see electronic tabulators return for next municipal election

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Following an update on this year’s municipal election at the Nov. 17 regular council meeting, Town of Coaldale councillors passed motions to explore opportunities for a second voting location in the next election, and are sending a letter to MLA Grant Hunter, requesting the re-introduction of electronic tabulators.  

In addition to the motion, councillors accepted the 2025 Municipal Election Summary and Recommendations report as information.  

Lana Antony, municipal clerk for the Town of Coaldale, and the returning officer for the 2025 Municipal Election, presented her 2025 Municipal Election Summary and Recommendations report to councillors. She noted that recommendations were also provided at the conclusion of the 2021 election and were all taken into consideration in the planning for the 2025 election.

Her report provided a summary of the 2025 municipal election process along with nine recommendations from key areas, including voter turnout, legislated and general advertising, voting dates and locations, institutional voting, election day, hand counting of ballots, recount, election workers, budget, permanent elector register, signage, and after the polls closed.

This year’s election saw 6,473 eligible electors in Coaldale, a total of 1,898 ballots were cast, which was down 17 per cent from the last election in 2021. Voter turnout was at 29 per cent (down from 46 per cent in 2021 and 39 per cent in 2017).

Antony highlighted three areas that were new in the 2025 election including the permanent elector register (PER), which will include changes and updates following this year’s election, noted Antony, before it is submitted to the province by the end of March 2026.

“Next I wanted to talk about was the hand count. This was new – our hand count took us two and a half hours to do,” said Antony. “It did require some additional election workers to make that happen. I’m quite pleased that it did go pretty well – it was my goal to be within two and a half hours and we did make that goal,” she added, stating her hopes for council to keep lobbying the Alberta government to bring back electronic tabulators as a ‘more exact measure for counting’. 

“It certainly did make it a lot easier, but we did manage,” said Antony, noting her gratitude for the “excellent workers” they had and the hours and work they put in on election day. 

The third highlight during Antony’s election summary and recommendations was the recount. 

“The recount is automatically triggered by half a per cent if there is a difference on the losing candidate and of the total votes cast, so for us that was 9.2 votes,” explained Antony. “So the system would have automatically triggered the recount, however a candidate requested it so we proceeded with the recount anyway.” 

She consulted with Municipal Affairs to ensure all steps and proper procedures were taken during a recount, and Antony said she was pleased with how it went, noting candidates were present and watching the recount. 

“I made sure to go slow and explain all the steps that were being done and to ask them throughout the process if they were satisfied with how things were going or if there was any additional information that they did want to see,” she said. “The results of the recount did not change the final standings however, it did change the amount of losing votes, so the losing candidate lost by seven – after the recount they lost by three (votes).” 

Antony said she asked Municipal Affairs about how many other municipalities around the province conducted recounts and learned there were a total of 16 recounts conducted in this year’s municipal election. Some of the municipalities that held recounts included Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, St. Paul, Drayton Valley, Stony Plain, Pincher Creek, Edson, High Prairie and Redcliff. 

Other key observations in Antony’s report included a notable decline in voter turnout – that warrants consideration for future engagement strategies. Hand-counting required significantly more staffing but was completed efficiently. She also noted the absence of a substitute Returning Officer created challenges and  future appointments should consider a formal backup. A final key observation noted that advertising efforts were effective and well-received by the public.

After accepting the report as information, councillors also discussed and unanimously passed two additional motions presented by Coun. Lisa Reis. That included directing administration to draft a letter to MLA Grant Hunter noting the challenges they encountered with hand counting of ballots, including the recount. She also requested the re-introduction of electronic tabulators for the next election and said the letter should note the critical need to increase voter participation across all municipalities through innovative means.

A second motion recommended an additional voting centre located near the highway for commuters to and from the city, and will explore further opportunity for a second voting location.