Long Waits, Complex Procedures Frustrated Voters in 2025 Edmonton Election: Report

Canada - Ekhbary News Agency

Long Waits, Complex Procedures Frustrated Voters in 2025 Edmonton Election: Report

An interim post-election report has shed light on the voter experience during the 2025 Edmonton municipal election, detailing significant frustrations stemming from prolonged wait times, intricate voting processes, and difficulties associated with new technologies. The findings, presented to the city's audit committee, indicate that a considerable number of Edmontonians encountered challenges at the polls in October 2025. The review, conducted by Edmonton Elections, has identified several key areas requiring substantial improvement before the next municipal election in 2029.

While the majority of citizens were able to cast their ballots without major impediments, the report suggests that legislative changes mandated by the province were primary drivers of delays and confusion. These changes included the implementation of a permanent elector register and a transition to hand-counted ballots. Councillor Thu Parmar, who reviewed the report, emphasized the cumulative effect of these alterations. "There were so many changes," Parmar stated. "It wasn’t one change. It was one bill that came through, then one bill got amended, and so there were multiple changes leading up to that election day."

Survey data indicates that approximately 60% of voters completed the entire process in 30 minutes or less, with a further 23% finishing within an hour, bringing the total to 83% within the hour mark. However, a notable 16% of respondents reported waiting longer than an hour. The report established a strong correlation between extended wait times and diminished voter satisfaction. Overall voter satisfaction stood at 63%. This figure saw a dramatic decline among those subjected to longer waits: satisfaction dropped to 24% for waits between one and two hours, and further plummeted to just 14% for those waiting over two hours.

Councillor Jon Morgan, representing Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi, acknowledged the public's dedication. "Edmontonians were very committed to voting," Morgan said. "I did hear about long lines during the election, upwards of two hours… but I also heard they were committed to seeing it through. So I’m pretty proud of that fact — for Edmontonians to be that committed to it, but, I can understand their frustrations."

Both voters and election workers cited the complexity of the voting process as a major source of their frustration. Fifteen percent of surveyed voters indicated difficulties with forms, verification steps, and multi-station workflows. This was particularly pronounced for individuals needing to be added to or updated on the new permanent elector register, a process that often led to significant slowdowns and bottlenecks at polling stations during peak hours.

A significant procedural shift involved the prohibition of electronic vote tabulators. Instead, all ballots were required to be counted manually, which inherently increased the volume of ballots and the number of ballot boxes requiring management at each station. Councillor Morgan expressed a strong preference for the return of tabulators. "I would definitely like to see a return to our tabulators," he remarked. "That would be a big help for our election team and for the safety and security of our elections." The manual counting process also led to several instances where boxes of ballots required recounting, delaying the final results. Morgan highlighted the potential for human error in manual counting, advocating for the use of proven technologies: "We should be using the tools that are proven to make sure that our elections are fair and free."

The 2025 election marked the inaugural use of a permanent elector register in Edmonton, a requirement stemming from amendments to Alberta’s Local Authorities Election Act. To support this new register, Edmonton Elections implemented an electronic system at voting stations. While this system facilitated real-time updates and enhanced security, it presented usability challenges for some poll workers. Survey results showed that 22% of election workers found the technology difficult to use, and 9% reported experiencing technical glitches during their shifts. Furthermore, 22% of workers reported difficulties in completing essential paperwork, such as ballot accounting forms.

"There is so much more work to this election than there has been in the past," Councillor Parmar observed. The voting process itself was also bifurcated; instead of a single ballot for mayor, councillor, and school trustee, voters received three separate paper ballots. Parmar noted this likely extended the time required for workers to distribute ballots and for voters to complete their tasks. "In this sense, it was actually three separate votes. So that created more time," she explained, adding that the time factor may not have been adequately considered in staffing projections.

The report acknowledges that while accurate ballot accounting is crucial for election integrity, the complexity of the process impacted the efficiency of election workers, especially during busy periods like the early evening commute. Over 5,400 election workers were hired, filling more than 6,600 positions. Although most received mandatory training, feedback suggested that more hands-on practice would have better prepared them for the new systems and forms. Edmonton Elections did offer additional hands-on training for supervisors to address issues noted during advance voting, which participants found beneficial. However, time and capacity constraints prevented extending this enhanced training to all workers.

"I think what we heard very clearly was that it’s very difficult to train 5,000 people for one day, right? And I think to give some grace to that, what we saw was that the checks and balances did work," Councillor Parmar commented, reflecting on the overall outcome.

In a parallel advisory report, the city auditor corroborated many of these concerns. Observations from election day highlighted widespread frustration among both voters and staff, primarily attributed to system difficulties and form completion challenges. The auditor's office recommended that Edmonton Elections implement a more comprehensive, hands-on training program for future elections to mitigate voter dissatisfaction and operational risks.

Councillor Parmar expressed anticipation for a concrete action plan. "What are they actually going to do to make sure that we can have higher voter turnout, that we can have a service level that is definitely not over one hour to be able to vote? That is not what Edmontonians expect, it’s not what I expect, it’s not what council expects and so we’ll be looking at that," she stated.

Despite the reported challenges, the auditor confirmed that Edmonton Elections successfully addressed all significant findings prior to and during the election. Importantly, any issues identified during ballot reconciliation did not impact the final election results.

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