City of Lethbridge outlines changes to next year’s municipal election due to Bill 20

Following the passing of Bill 20, the City of Lethbridge says higher costs and longer ballot counting times volition effect successful important changes to the city’s adjacent municipal election.

These changes are not bringing successful caller issues, however, instead, the metropolis says they are being brought backmost successful time, to the 1990s.

“Prohibiting tabulators, which we’ve utilized since 1992, therefore, we’ll beryllium hand-counting ballots alternatively of utilizing tabulators. Therefore, the results volition beryllium importantly delayed. We won’t get them the Monday nighttime of the predetermination arsenic we usually do,” said Bonnie Hilford, metropolis clerk for the City of Lethbridge.

In fact, Hilford says the authoritative effect whitethorn not travel until Friday greeting aft the election, conscionable hours earlier the metropolis is mandated to person the number in.

This is because, according to the city, it takes them 41.6 seconds to number a azygous metropolis assembly ballot and they are expecting a turnout of astir 32,000 voters. Because of this, the metropolis is readying to velocity things up by separating ballots and ballot boxes for each voting category.

Currently, the metropolis uses 1 ballot to elite a mayor, each metropolis councilors, schoolhouse committee members and besides immoderate other questions. However, the aboriginal volition spot each 1 connected its ain ballot to beryllium deposited into its ain ballot box.

“Last election… we lone had possibly 50 ballot boxes successful total. This clip we expect implicit 250,” said David Sarsfield, lawman metropolis clerk successful Lethbridge.

The metropolis says each ballot and ballot container volition beryllium colour-coated and labelled to bounds confusion. Although, this isn’t the lone interest for predetermination 2025. The Lethbridge municipal predetermination is slated for Oct. 20. The adjacent national predetermination indispensable hap connected oregon earlier that aforesaid day.

“Unless they person a ballot of non-confidence, you could perchance beryllium voting for some municipal, arsenic good arsenic federal, the aforesaid day. We’re alert of that, we’ve talked to the national radical and effort to mitigate it and marque it arsenic casual arsenic imaginable for the individual, but we consciousness determination volition beryllium confusion,” said Sarsfield.

In different effort to maximize resources and bounds confusion, the metropolis plans to trim the fig of polling stations for the municipal predetermination by creating ‘super stations.’

“Another alteration for the 2025 predetermination is we volition have, probably, we’re reasoning 3 ace stations for voting alternatively of the 14 smaller stations. We conscionable find that we’d person immoderate outgo savings with that,” said Hilford.

The metropolis says determination are assistance plans successful spot for those who are incapable to get retired to ballot .

All the other counting and instrumentality besides means higher costs, with the metropolis estimating an further $323,360 beryllium spent adjacent election.

“It falls connected the city. We haven’t heard that the state will, astatine this time, supply immoderate backing for that,” said Hilford.

The metropolis says determination is reserve backing that whitethorn beryllium used, truthful taxpayers volition not person to wage much for the 2025 expenses.