While municipal election day in Alberta is now just days away, many voters are going to be forced to wait a lot longer to find out who the winners in their community are.

New provincial legislation, passed by the UCP government in 2024, means all the ballots will need to be counted by hand instead of machine — increasing the cost and time of determining the results.

“That is a little bit of an unknown for us this year as we’ve used tabulators in the past,” said Cathy Duplessis, returning officer for the town of Okotoks near Calgary.

“We have had to hire approximately 80 people to come in at the close of voting stations to hand count.”

Hiring all those extra people means the cost of holding the election has doubled, said Duplessis.

While the town hopes to have the unofficial results av

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