EDMONTON – The Alberta government will change the way its elections are run, granting prisoners the right to vote and putting an end to the political appointment of returning officers.
The Election Statutes Amendment Act, tabled Thursday in the provincial legislature, also increases access to advanced polling, changes the rules around third-party advertising and eases the identification requirements at the polls.
Justice Minister Alison Redford admitted that it didn’t look right to have the government appointing the people running the election.
"It had been subject to public comment," Redford said. "We certainly, as the premier said, didn’t disagree that there would have been that perception."
Allowing prisoners to vote puts the province in compliance with a 2002 Supreme Court decision.
But the bill is also getting attention for what it doesn’t do – set fixed election dates or regulate financing of party leadership races.
Premier Ed Stelmach said people have little appetite for fixed elections, which are law in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
"About the only people that are inconvenienced by not having fixed election dates are those that are elected," Stelmach said.
In the past, the premier has expressed interest in regulating the financing of party leadership races. The 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership race had no such rules and a number of candidates never disclosed their donors.
Stelmach didn’t disclose roughly $160,000 in donations and Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith did not disclose about $250,000 of contributions in her party’s leadership race last fall.
The issue will now be referred to a legislature committee to make recommendations.
"I’ve asked for all of the political party leaders to put down what they want to see. Now is the opportunity," Stelmach said.
Rules around Alberta elections were hotly debated after the last provincial election, in which 41 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. Polling day was plagued with long lines and inaccurate voter lists.
Afterwards, then-chief electoral officer Lorne Gibson made 182 recommendations to help things go more smoothly.
Those recommendations were later consolidated to 144. The government accepted 92 of the ideas.
The changes include requiring third-party advertisers to disclose where their money came from and allowing anyone to vote in advance poll for any reason.
Also, people may now show one piece of government photo ID or two pieces of ID that satisfy the electoral officer.
Liberal MLA Kevin Taft said the changes don’t go far enough. He said he was particularly disappointed the bill punted leadership finance rules to a committee.
Taft said Stelmach and some senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Ted Morton and Education Minister Dave Hancock, never fully disclosed their donors.
"At best that’s awful optics; at worse it’s a potential for corruption," Taft said.
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