Elections Alberta says no issue with tabulators despite criticism over slow start to election results

Elections Alberta says there was no issue in counting votes Monday despite results dragging well into the night in the 2023 provincial election. 

Election authorities told CBC News Monday evening that no problems were detected with the tabulators used to count paper ballots at advance polling locations. 

This election was the first time the machines were used with the hopes they would speed up the counting process. About 70,000 advance votes still had not been counted as of 12:30 a.m. MT.

"Results have been generated from the tabulators and are being entered into the results site," Robert Quintal, executive director with the Canadian Media Elections Consortium, said in a statement to CBC News. 

Integrity of the vote counts is the priority

As every tabulator reports on the results for all 87 electoral divisions, each office is entering results for 349 candidates for each voting place.

"Confirming this information is correct and publishing, it does take some time," Quintal said.

"Our Returning Officers and Election Officers are being thorough in their process and that takes time. The integrity of the vote counts is the priority for us this evening."

The United Conservative Party was elected to a majority government close to 11 p.m. 

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley conceded the election.

Votes were counted past midnight despite polls closing at 8 p.m. for most stations. 

Quintal said some voting locations closed late to accommodate all voters who were in line.

"We do not have a specific list of those locations available at this time, as all voting locations are focused on counting their ballots and reporting their results," he said. 

Delayed start

One location to close later than most stations was the Sunchild Admin Building in the central Alberta riding of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. The station closed at 9:46 p.m. due to delays in opening on time. 

"Because those locations are so focused on doing the hand counts and getting the tabulator counts done," Elections Alberta spokesperson Michelle Gurney said.

"We've allowed them to focus on that completely," Gurney said. 

Gurney said the process is rigorous because of the work that goes into ensuring tabulators are reliable while also conducting hand counts. 

"They run a report out of the tabulators. They have to verify the report to make sure that it's accurate and then they have to enter the information from those tabulators manually into a system that is double-checked."

But for political commentators and stakeholders like Angela Duncan, mayor of Alberta Beach, the slow trickle of results is troubling. 

"My concern with this delay in informing people of the issue and the issue itself is that it will cause questions of legitimacy, or could cause questions of legitimacy moving forward to continue to use these tabulators but also the results of these votes," she said Monday.