Mail-in ballot delivery rules posing barriers: Alberta’s former top election official

EDMONTON – Alberta’s former top election official says he has effectively lost his right to vote in the province’s upcoming separation referendum, and he’s pointing the finger at his successor.

Glen Resler said he was among the roughly 658,000 Albertans who applied to vote by special ballot.

But he said he was unable to get it in the mail last week, when Canada Post could still guarantee delivery before Elections Alberta’s deadline of Friday at 5 p.m. 

Monday is the official voting day.

Resler said in an interview that he tried to deliver his ballot in-person to Elections Alberta’s office in Edmonton earlier this week. But he says he turned away and told provincial law dictates special ballots can only be returned by mail.

Resler, who was the province’s chief electoral officer from 2013 to 2024, said he was encouraged to vote at advance polls this week instead, something that wasn’t an option as he wouldn’t be home to vote.

While provincial law says Elections Alberta can only accept special ballots by mail, Resler said there’s a clause that permits in-person deliveries.

He said Gordon McClure, the current chief electoral officer, is refusing to use that power.

“By removing that opportunity, they’re removing the opportunity for me to exercise my right to vote,” Resler said.

The Election Act clause says the chief electoral officer can permit in-person or courier delivery of special mail-in ballots when delivery by mail is “not reasonably possible.”

Michelle Gurney, a spokesperson for the agency, said that means only those who live in remote areas are eligible.

“It is reasonably possible for the vast majority of electors to return their special ballot packages by mail as they have mail service,” Gurney said Thursday.

Resler said he interprets the clause differently and, if he was still in the role, he would permit in-person drop-offs starting when Canada Post can no longer guarantee timely delivery.

“I think they should be doing whatever is possible to allow Albertans to exercise their vote,” he said.

“By putting up barriers to vote, you’re disenfranchising Albertans.”

Elections Alberta said that, to date, it has received and processed about 454,000 mail-in ballots, or nearly 70 per cent of those sent out.

Resler said having so many mail-in ballots still in limbo is another argument to have Elections Alberta accept in-person or courier delivery before Friday’s deadline.

“It’s the same building in which the special ballots are being received and opened and processed 50 feet away, and they’re not allowing that to happen,” he said.

Gurney said the rule preventing in-person drop-offs was brought in last year by the United Conservative Party government and that the agency considers it a setback.

“Today, people are much less reliant on traditional mail than they were historically and may choose other ways to have important documents delivered securely,” she said.

“We agree the legislation is limiting and hope the legislative assembly will consider an amendment.”

Justice Minister Mickey Amery’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elections Alberta has said it’s expecting record voter turnout for Premier Danielle Smith’s 10-question referendum, which features a question on whether Albertans want the province to remain in Canada or hold a second, binding vote on independence.

The number of requested mail-in ballots is unprecedented, and the agency said voter interest remained high in the first two days of advance polling.

Almost 187,000 Albertans cast ballots Wednesday, more than the nearly 175,000 who trekked to polls the day before when advance voting opened.

The agency said that for the 2023 general election, the daily average for advance voting was just under 152,000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.