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Alberta Politics

election day in alberta: get out the vote.

Vote
Yours truly, voting in the 2008 provincial election.

Today is election day in Alberta. Polls are open between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you are unsure where your polling station is, visit Elections Alberta’s handy “Where to Vote” webpage.

Alberta’s Election Act ensures that all eligible voters are allowed sufficient time to vote on Election Day. Section 132 of the Election Act allows for three consecutive hours for the purpose of voting.

The provisions contained in Section 132 of the Election Act state:

(1) An employee who is an elector qualified to vote shall, while the polls are open on poll-ing day at an election or plebiscite, be allowed 3 consecutive hours for the purpose of casting the employee’s vote.

(2) If the employee’s hours of employment do not allow for the 3 consecutive hours’ absence, the employee’s employer shall allow the employee additional time for voting to provide the 3 consecutive hours, but the additional time for voting shall be granted at the convenience of the employer.

(3) No employer may make any deduction from the pay of an employee or impose on or exact from the employee any penalty by reason of the employee’s absence from employment during the 3 consecutive hours referred to in subsection (1) or additional time granted under subsection (2).

I will have more election analysis as the results come in tonight. You can also watch me on Alberta Primetime this evening at 7:00 p.m. and after 11:00 p.m..

8 replies on “election day in alberta: get out the vote.”

Let’s hope that there are some changes in criteria as to who is eligible to vote in AB. Canadian Citizen – fine. 18+ years of age – fine. Having lived in AB for six months – not at all fine. Recent arrivals, for the most part, have little knowledge/vested interest in the province and their ability to cast an “educated choice” is probably questionable at best, and many may not even be here in 3-4 years. AB has been blessed with a huge influx of people since the last election and no doubt they are about to have an influence in deciding on who will run AB for the next four years. Hopefully it is not all about an uninformed twitter generation – as have been two recent major political scenes – the leadership and the mayoralty race.

@Gordon, I lived in Alberta for 27 years, was gone for one year, and have just been back for a dew months now. Am I not qualified to make an “educated choice”? Are people who live in Arizona for 6 mo. each year not “real Albertans” to you?

To be clear, I’m thinking of people who have never spent any time in AB in their lifetime, other than a few months or a year. Of course returnees and those living elsewhere for six months in the year are more than qualified – and I hope they all vote.

Actually, at the doorsteps, I found the old guard pioneer-descended Albertans (of which I am one), to be the LEAST likely to have an open mind and give you a half minute listen. Their minds were made up, and bang, that’s it.

So, having lived here for a long time does not necessarily mean that folks understand any better what makes good government than voters coming from anywhere else, so I have to disagree.

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