Alberta’s referendum sees 1.3M votes cast in advance polls: elections body

Over a million Albertans have already cast their votes in a referendum that delves into the province's future, preliminary data reveals. Elections Alberta reports that 1,356,873 ballots were cast between October 13 and October 17 through advance and special ballots, surpassing the 809,988 votes cast during the same period in the 2023 provincial election campaign.

The voting broke down into 837,791 advance votes and 519,082 mailed-in special ballots. By contrast, 758,637 advance votes were cast in 2023, along with 51,351 special ballots. Special ballot totals from 2023 are not directly comparable to those of the referendum, as they were not accessible to all eligible electors and were not required to be sent via mail.

The referendum had 3,148,343 eligible voters, with 43 per cent casting their ballots during the advance voting period. This figure contrasts with 27.5 per cent during the 2023 election. A recent Ipsos poll for Global News indicates that 70 per cent of Albertans intend to vote for the province to remain part of Canada, a figure unchanged from the previous month's poll.

The proportion of voters favoring a binding referendum on separation rose by three percentage points to 23 per cent. Support is strongest among men, those aged 35 to 54, and those residing outside of Calgary and Edmonton. Premier Danielle Smith has stated her expectation that everyone will accept the results and proceed as planned.

The referendum includes nine questions on immigration and the constitution, in addition to the separation question.