After a rough couple years as Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, it remains to be seen whether Lorne Gibson‘s will continue to hold the position when his contract comes up for renewal in March 2009.
During the 2008 Provincial election, the impartiality of the electoral process came under question when it was discovered that a large number of local Returning Officers had strong links to the governing PC Party. In 2006, Gibson submitted a long list of recommendations to the Legislative Assembly to change how elections are organized by giving more authority to the non-partisan elections office and he recently called for a revamping of Alberta’s financial disclosure rules.
Word on the street is that Gibson will soon be inviting each of Alberta’s registered political parties to appoint two representatives to a committee that will be charged with comprehensively reviewing Alberta’s elections processes from their standpoint.
