Albertans head to the polls for referendum vote

Albertans head to the polls for referendum vote

Published 7:58 am Monday, October 19, 2026

Polls are open across the province as Albertans will chart a new path for the future.

The Government of Alberta has put forward 10 referendum questions for voters to consider.

Advance voting, which took place between Oct. 13 and 17, saw hundreds of thousands of votes cast.

Elections Alberta said as of Oct. 18, 837,791 advance votes were cast, with 519,082 special ballots tallied, for a total of 1,356,873 which is 43 per cent of eligible voters. For comparison, 2,939,762 votes total were cast in the 2023 provincial election. That election had 758,637 advance votes and 51,351 special ballots, for 809,988 before election day in 2023.

Special ballot totals from 2023 are not directly comparable to the referendum, as they were not available to all eligible electors and were not required to be received by mail.

Voting locations will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 19.

Every elector is assigned a voting location based on their ordinary place of residence. On Election Day, electors may only vote at their assigned voting location. To find your location, click here.

Elections Alberta has indicated that the unofficial results will be published within 48 hours of confirmed close of all voting locations on Oct. 19.

Close of voting locations is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on October 19, however, they may remain open longer if there are lines or if a location opened later than planned.

The results website cannot be published until all voting locations in the province are confirmed closed.

Unofficial results will begin to be released once the reporting site goes live at close of voting at https://results.elections.ab.ca/.

Results will be reported live in real time as counts are completed and returning offices confirm and enter them in the system. Question 10 will be counted first, followed by Questions 1 to 9, in order.

Results will be displayed by question, by electoral division, by voting option.

The count timelines will depend on voting location closing times and voter turnout.

Elections Alberta is reminding voters to take the following steps to ensure a smooth in-person voting experience:

-Read the referendum questions in advance and decide how you wish to vote.
-Ensure you are eligible to vote and have accepted identification with you when you go to vote.
-Where to Vote cards cannot be used as accepted identification.
-Ensure you are voting at the correct voting location in your electoral division, as indicated on your Where to Vote card or using the Where to Vote tool.
Voting process
-Upon arrival, electors will check in at a registration table. If they are not registered to vote, they will be directed to complete a declaration of eligibility and provide their accepted identification (see below for more information). If they are registered to vote, their name will be struck off the voters list.

Voters will be provided ten colour-coded ballots each, with one referendum question per ballot. If they do not wish to receive all ten ballots, they may decline and those will be put into declined ballot folders. They will then go behind a voting screen to mark their ballots. Once they have marked their ballots, they will deposit them into the ten corresponding ballot boxes for each question. A Ballot Box Clerk will be available to assist if needed.

Voter Identification

To vote in the referendum, electors must prove their identity and current physical address. There are more than 50 ways to do this, including:

-Providing one piece of Government-issued photo ID, including the voter’s full name, current physical address, and a photo.
-Driver’s license and identification cards containing only a mailing address (e.g., PO Box) are accepted if you are registered to vote at your current physical address. If you are not registered to vote, you will need additional ID that includes your current physical address.
-Providing two pieces of ID, both containing the voter’s full name and one showing their current physical address (e.g., a utility bill, etc.).
-Where to Vote Cards are NOT accepted as identification.
-Having an authorized signatory complete an attestation form available in specific circumstances.
-Voters may visit elections.ab.ca/voters/id-required-to-vote for a full list of accepted identification.

Referendum questions

The Alberta government has posed the following 10 questions to eligible electors:

1. Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities?

2. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta­ approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially-funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?

3. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially-funded social support programs?

4. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the healthcare and education systems?

5. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?
O.C. 109/2026 sets out the following constitutional questions. Electors will mark either “yes” or “no” for each question on their ballots:

6. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?

7. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to abolish the unelected federal Senate?

8. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?

9. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict?

10. Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?
Option 1: Alberta should remain a province of Canada.

Option 2: The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.