Council passes election, election signs bylaws
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
During the Dec. 11 regular meeting of council, the Town of Strathmore reviewed the municipal election bylaw, as well as the election signs bylaw.
These measures are in preparation for the upcoming municipal election scheduled to take place on Oct. 20, 2025. Changes to election bylaws are required administratively to align with the Local Authorities and Municipal Government Acts.
Nominations for the general election will be open between Jan. 1, and Sept. 22, 2025.
The Municipal Election Bylaw had previously been presented to council during the Sept. 11, Committee of the Whole meeting, though since then there have been amendments due to the impacts of Alberta’s Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, on the next election.
Bill 20 amended the Local Authorities Election Act so as to establish what the province refers to as a framework for the conduct of elections in Alberta municipalities, school divisions, irrigation districts, and Metis settlements.
Additionally, the Municipal Government Act is amended to establish rules governing the conduct of local elected officials once they successfully win their seats on councils, as well as the overall administration and operation of municipal authorities in Alberta.
A full list of these amendments and the resulting impacts is available publicly through the Government of Alberta website. These changes came to full effect as of Oct. 31, 2024.
These amendments not only govern expectations and requirements of candidates, but also rules surrounding third party entities and how they are allowed to contribute to an election.
The municipality itself is also subject to specific rules regarding electors, as well as how votes are collected and tabulated.
Come election time, the Town of Strathmore will use two teams of election workers. The first team will work during voting days, while the second team will be responsible for counting ballots.
The province has mandated that ballots be counted by hand and has prohibited automated voting equipment; thus, town administration anticipates additional hours to be required for election workers.
“This is a change that the province brought in; it is manual vote counting and the City of Chestermere did manual vote counting almost as a pilot in June and it took from 8:30 p.m. when the polling stations closed until quarter-to-five in the morning for the results to come in,” said Mayor Pat Fule. “The new mayor of Chestermere told me that it tripled the cost of their election. This is something that the UCP government put in – they did away with electronic voting machines that are not connected to the internet. They have done manual vote counting; it is incredibly long, and it tripled the cost.”
The Town of Strathmore budgeted $30,000 for their municipal election in 2021. For the upcoming 2025 election, the Town has budgeted $150,000.
“We are trying to save money in our budget and this has been downloaded on to us and I asked if there was a way for the provincial government, at our midsize mayor’s caucus, if the provincial government would help with funding all municipalities,” added Fule. “I do not believe it is going to happen.”
Council is expected to appoint a returning officer, as well as a substitute returning officer with a deadline to appoint of June 25.
Administration recommended council continue to utilize institutional voting stations. Council has the authority to establish the location(s) of one or more institutional voting stations for an election.
The appointed Returning Officer is responsible for designating the time(s) on advance voting days during which the votes in the institutions shall be taken and may appoint deputies necessary for taking those votes.
Regarding incapacitated voters, the town may provide for the attendance of two deputies at a residence of an elector during the hours on days advance voting stations are open.
Seniors’ communities which desire to be one of such institutional voting stations are able to reach out to the appointed Returning Officer to make a request, though it is not a guarantee such locations will be designated as such stations.
Council passed all three readings of the municipal election bylaw. Johnathan Strathdee and Claudette Thorhaug have been appointed as the Returning Officer and Substitute Returning Officer, respectively.
The election signs bylaw was last discussed during the Sept. 11, Committee of the Whole meeting, at which time administration was directed to look at several updates to the bylaw.
Section 2.3 of the bylaw was expanded to clarify election signs may be of a variety of materials so long as they still align with size and placement requirements set out in the bylaw.
The town’s election signs bylaw definitions were also expanded in order to account for rules pertaining to provincial elections, with a caveat that the province sustains additional rules which may be set out by the provincial government.
Annotations have been laid out regarding the distances required between signs, proximity to curbs and intersections, about fees associated with election signs, and penalties associated with the potential vandalism of election signs.
Council unanimously passed all three readings of the election signs bylaw following administration’s presentation.