How to Vote

Choose your Preferred Voting Option

Voting In Person

There are four in-person voting options available to voters during the election period:

1) Election Day

On Election Day, every elector is assigned a voting location based on their place of ordinary residence. Electors may only vote at their assigned voting location on Election Day.
All Election Day voting locations are open from 9:00am to 8:00pm.
Election Day voting locations are most commonly in schools, churches, community halls, and other public buildings to provide electors with an accessible voting location close to where they live.
Electors who are unable to vote on Election Day should consider voting during one of the five advance voting days, or voting by mail using a special ballot.

2) Advance Voting

Advance voting takes place from Tuesday through Saturday between 9:00am and 8:00pm the week before Election Day. While days and hours of operation may vary for some advance voting locations, every electoral division will have at least one location open for the full advance voting period.

Electors may choose to vote at any advance voting location in their electoral division.

Advance voting locations are commonly established in malls, community centres, libraries, work camps, universities, and other public buildings to provide electors with locations that are convenient to where they live, work, shop, or travel.

Voting in advance is the preferred option for electors who cannot attend their assigned voting location on Election Day, such as students studying away from home and people who may be working away or travelling on Election Day. Electors can vote at any advance voting location in their electoral division. Electors who cannot vote at an advance or Election Day location can instead vote by mail.

3) Vote by Mail

If you are unable to vote on Election Day or on advance voting days due to one of the following reasons, you may vote by mail for your electoral division.

• Physically disabled,
• Away from their electoral division,
• An inmate,
• An election officer, candidate, official agent or scrutineer, or
• Living in a remote area, as defined in the Election Act.

Electors may visit their local returning office to update voter registration, request a special ballot, or submit candidate nomination papers.

Electors who choose to vote by mail will need to sign a declaration and provide identification to prove their name and address.

4) Mobile Voting

Mobile voting provides electors who are unable to provide identification or do not have access to Election Day or advance voting locations with a voting opportunity in the facility where they reside or receive services.
Some facilities are eligible to receive a mobile voting station on Election Day or during advance voting days. Eligible facilities include:

• Treatment centres, such as hospitals and facilities providing care under the Mental Health Act;
• Supportive living facilities, such as lodges, and facilities providing assisted living and accommodation;
• Long-term care facilities;
• Emergency shelters providing short-term housing for individuals experiencing homelessness or escaping domestic violence; and
• Community support centres providing services to people experiencing poverty or homelessness.

Facilities must have at least 10 electors who are resident or receiving services at the facility to be eligible for a mobile voting station. The date and hours of operation of the voting station are established by the Returning Officer in consultation with the facility operator, considering the number of electors who reside or receive services at the facility.

Only residents and those receiving services at the facility may vote at a mobile voting station. Identification is not required, but the facility representative must confirm the individual voting resides or receives services at the facility with an attestation form. Staff and family members are not eligible to vote at a mobile voting station.

Guides are available for facility operators to learn more about mobile voting options.

• Guide for Supportive Living, Long-Term Care and Hospitals
• Guide for Shelters and Community Support Centres

For more information about these four voting options and how to use them, please see:

• How to Vote in Person
• Time off for Voting

Voting By Mail

Electors may apply to vote by special ballot if they are unable to vote during advance voting days or on Election Day. Electors choosing this voting option do not require a reason for voting by special ballot. Electors who might choose this voting option include people who are:

• physically disabled individuals who are unable to go to a voting location,
• away from their electoral division during the advance voting period or on Election Day, such as those on holidays, attending school outside of their electoral division, or are out of the country,
• members of the armed forces,
• an inmate,
• an election officer, candidate, official agent, or scrutineer, or
• living in a remote area, as defined in the Election Act.

Special ballots may be completed at Elections Alberta’s head office in Edmonton, picked up by a designate of the elector, or mailed to the elector.

A person may apply for a special ballot on behalf of an elector only if the elector requires assistance due to disability or illness.

How to Vote by Mail

Electors planning to vote by mail are encouraged to request their package early, as the deadlines to send and receive special ballots are before Election Day.

The Chief Electoral Officer may provide, on receipt of a special ballot application, a special ballot to electors serving in the Canadian Forces, temporarily residing outside of Canada, or living in remote area no earlier than the third Monday in July in the year in which the election is held.

Special ballot applications must be received no later than 7 days before the Friday immediately preceding Election Day.

Special ballots cannot be accepted after 5:00 pm on the Friday immediately preceding Election Day or at an address other than the one specified by the CEO for receiving special ballots.