July 25, 2026· Edmonton Journal
Elections Alberta Verifies Independence Petition With 222,597 Signatures
Elections Alberta has verified 222,597 signatures on Mitch Sylvestre's "Stay Free Alberta" independence petition — well above the 177,732 required under the Citizen Initiative Act.
Elections Alberta announced Friday that it has verified 222,597 signatures supporting a petition seeking a referendum on Alberta independence, clearing the legally required threshold of 177,732 under the Citizen Initiative Act. The signatures were verified using a random statistical sampling method at a 95 per cent confidence level.
Mitch Sylvestre's "Stay Free Alberta" petition asked whether Alberta should cease to be part of Canada and become an independent state. His group had submitted more than 301,000 signatures in May; the verified total represents an estimated 7.5 per cent of Alberta electors. Elections Alberta confirmed none of the signatures came from the seeded names on a leaked Republican Party of Alberta elector list.
The verification followed an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling last month allowing Elections Alberta to count and report results, partly overturning an earlier Court of King's Bench decision. Albertans are set to vote October 19 on one of ten referendum questions, including whether Alberta should begin the constitutional process to hold a binding separation referendum.