Elections Alberta has 25,000 applicants for 60,000 referendum jobs as October vote approaches

EDMONTON — Elections Alberta has received approximately 25,000 job applications for an October referendum requiring at least 60,000 workers, leaving the agency with a major recruitment challenge less than three months before voting day.

The Oct. 19 referendum will put 10 separate questions to Alberta voters. Because provincial law requires ballots to be counted by hand, Elections Alberta says the unusually complex vote will require more workers than any previous electoral event in the province.

Approximately 45 million colour-coded ballots are expected to be printed. Voters will be able to answer each question separately, while election workers will have to sort and count the results under strict security procedures. The agency’s goal is to complete the unofficial count within 48 hours.

The scale is closer to a national campaign than a conventional Alberta election. Elections Alberta employed 13,095 temporary workers during the 2023 provincial election. By comparison, Quebec recruited approximately 57,000 people for its 1995 sovereignty referendum, according to figures cited by the Alberta agency.

Elections Alberta normally has only 48 permanent employees. Thousands of temporary staff will therefore need to be hired, screened and trained for positions at voting places, returning offices, warehouses and counting locations.

The 25,000 figure refers to applications, rather than workers who have completed the hiring process. Applicants must generally be Alberta residents who are at least 16 and legally entitled to work in Canada, although some roles have additional age or security requirements. Employees must also refrain from partisan political activity while working for the agency.

Recruitment is particularly important outside the province’s largest cities, where smaller labour pools and long travel distances can make it difficult to staff every voting location.

Advance voting is scheduled for Oct. 13 to 17. The hand count will begin after polls close Oct. 19 and is expected to continue until Oct. 21.

Nine referendum questions address provincial policy and Alberta’s relationship with the federal government. A tenth asks voters whether Alberta should remain a province or whether the provincial government should begin the constitutional process required to hold a future binding referendum on separation.

That wording means Albertans are not being asked to authorize independence in October. They are being asked whether the government should commence the legal process toward a later vote.

Elections Alberta has not suggested the referendum will be cancelled because of the current recruitment gap. Nevertheless, every remaining applicant will require processing and training, while scheduling must account for workers who withdraw or are unavailable on voting days.

The agency is accepting applications through Oct. 10. Reaching the numerical target is only the first step: the larger challenge will be turning a temporary workforce larger than many Alberta towns into a consistent election operation capable of accurately counting tens of millions of ballots.