Red Deer polling stations that opened late extend hours

Red Deer polling stations that opened late extend hours

Published 4:00 pm Monday, October 19, 2026

Three Red Deer polling stations were among more than 100 scheduled to keep their doors open past 8 p.m. because they started late on Oct. 19.

Elections Alberta released a list of 106 polling stations around the province that have extended hours because of late openings.

Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure authorized the extension under the Election Act to “ensure electors in the electoral division have full advertised hours of service at the affected locations. “Late openings were due to various issues that have been resolved,” said Elections Alberta in a notice shortly after 4 p.m.

“Extended hours will impact unofficial results reporting times. Unofficial results will begin to be released once the reporting site goes live, only after all voting locations in the province are confirmed closed.”

Elections Alberta asked voters to be “patient and kind. Workers at voting locations are your friends, your neighbours, and your fellow Albertans.

Regular voting hours for all other voting locations are 9 a.m.to 8 p.m.

Three voting stations in Red Deer-South riding will be open past 8 p.m.

• St. Elizabeth Seton School will remain open until 8:10 p.m.

• Baymont By Wyndham Red Deer will be open until 8:45 p.m.

• École Secondaire Notre Dame High School will not close until 8:45 p.m.

Several other ridings in central Alberta were also affected:

•Innisfail-Sylvan Lake riding – Ridgewood Hall will remain open until 8:10 p.m.

• Lacombe-Ponoka riding – Gary Moe Auto Sportsplex will be open until 8:15 p.m.

• Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin riding – Bear Paw Trading Post will be open until 8:10 p.m.

• Drumheller-Stettler riding – Consort Sportex will be open until 9 p.m.

Polling stations were quiet as referendum voting got underway in Red Deer in the morning.

A slow but steady stream of voters turned up to cast their ballots at Westerner Park’s Harvest Centre in the morning. Other polling stations also seemed to be getting traffic, with voters showing up every few minutes or so but with no lineups forming.

“My company is pretty into this stuff. Honestly, this is my first time voting so I thought I better do it,” said Les.

“The shop is not too far from here so they told me to come and vote,” he said, adding staff were not given any suggestions on how to vote.

He said he was not entirely sure how he intended to vote. “I’m probably just going to read the questions and make my decision.”

Some polling stations around the province were not open at the 9 a.m. start time. Elections Alberta said that, as a result, some polling stations will stay open past the 8 p.m. cutoff.

Another voter said he was there to exercise his right to vote.

He planned to Vote Option 2, which supports the provincial government commencing the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.

“Or else nothing changes and Eastern Canada rules us forever,” he said.

John was not ready to say he wanted Alberta to separate.

“That’s not to do with this vote. This is just a vote to say I’m not happy.

“We need better representation. I’m tired of my vote not counting. The (federal) election is called before they even count my vote every time.

“We don’t have enough Senate seats. We don’t have enough anything.”

Another voter said he came out “because I believe in the questions being asked and I want my voice to be heard.”

He voted Option 2, he said.

“Just because I’ve been here all my life and I just feel that with the transfer payments and everything else that is going east and we seem to be getting the bulk of nothing is how I feel.

“Even if we don’t know win, there is a percentage of people who are making their voices known.”