September 4, 2026· CityNews Edmonton
Deadline to request a mail-in ballot for the Alberta referendum moved up to Sept. 25
Elections Alberta has moved the deadline to apply for a special ballot two weeks earlier — to September 25 — as mail-in demand surges past 290,000 applications.
Elections Alberta has moved up the deadline to apply for a special (mail-in) ballot in the October 19 referendum to September 25 — two weeks earlier than the October 9 date originally advertised. Albertans who want to vote by mail now have until September 25 to request their ballot.
The agency made the change because of a surge in demand and to avoid mail delays around the October 12 Thanksgiving holiday. It has received about 290,000 special ballot applications so far — roughly 65,000 of them in three days, and nearly five times the number requested for the entire 2023 provincial election. Deputy chief electoral officer Dallas Stoesz said every ballot must be printed, mailed, returned and hand-counted: "That is a lot of volume to move."
Elections Alberta says it now expects turnout of around 85 per cent, which would surpass the provincial record of 81.8 per cent set in the 1935 general election.
The agency also clarified that some early mail-in packages included an unnecessary declaration form stating the voter was unable to attend a polling place. Albertans no longer need a reason to vote by mail; anyone who received that form can simply cross the section out, and it has been removed from packages still going out.