After weeks of debate, door-knocking and campaigning by candidates, it is now up to Calgarians to vote for their next mayor, councillor and school trustee.
Here’s what you need to know:
Where and how to vote
Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters are required to cast a ballot at their designated polling station, which they can determine by entering their address in the city’s online portal.
There are 261 polling stations across Calgary.
The city says so long as voters are in line before 8 p.m, they will be able to cast their ballots at the polling station.
Voters must be at least 18 years old and hold Canadian citizenship, must live in Calgary to vote for mayor, and can vote for a councillor and trustee for the ward in which they live.
At least one form of ID is needed, such as a driver’s licence. Other acceptable forms to prove an address include a government cheque, bank statement, lease agreement, fishing or hunting licence or utility bill.
Voters are entitled to three consecutive non-work hours to vote. Employers must provide the paid time off to vote if a worker’s schedule does not allow for that.
The candidates
There are nine candidates running for mayor:
- Jeff Davison
- Sarah Elder
- Jeromy Farkas
- Jyoti Gondek
- Jaeger Gustafson
- Larry R. Heather
- Grant Prior
- Sonya Sharp (Communities First)
- Brian Thiessen (The Calgary Party)
To find your ward, and the candidates running for councillor in your area, you can check out this interactive map.
The parties
This campaign has been notable for the introduction of political parties, as part of a pilot project by the province in Calgary and Edmonton.
There are three parties running candidates in Calgary’s election: A Better Calgary Party, Communities First, and The Calgary Party, with the latter two also running mayoral candidates.
Other candidates for mayor and councillor are running as independents.
Calgarians can cast a ballot for mayor, councillor and school trustee (CBC News)
When will results come
Elections Calgary has said Calgarians should learn who the next mayor will be on election night — but it could take a little longer to find out the full make-up of the new council.
Unlike the last civic election, this year the count will be done by hand rather than electronic tabulators, after they were banned by the province.
Because of this change, voters will mark separate ballots for mayor, trustee and councillor in order to speed up the count — rather than a single ballot like they might remember doing in the 2021 election.
Election day ballots will be hand counted at the station they were cast at once polls close.
Advance votes and mail-in ballots will be counted in the Big Four Roadhouse, starting with mayoral ballots Monday night. The process will be paused at 1 a.m., with the health and safety of the counters in mind.
“It will be a very long day for them to count,” said Kate Martin, Calgary’s chief returning officer. “It is important to us that as the counting proceeds that we are counting efficiently, but we are also doing the count with accuracy.”
The count will resume Tuesday morning. Depending on voter turnout, Martin expects ward results around 3 p.m. Tuesday, and trustee results closer to 8 p.m.
Martin says the switch to a hand count, as well as the new legislative requirement to maintain a permanent electors register, will cost the city an extra $1.3 million.
Advance votes and mail-in ballots will be tallied at the central counting station at the Big Four Roadhouse (Chelsey Mutter/CBC News)
Apathy? Indecision?
Recent polling by Janet Brown Opinion Research for CBC News found a high proportion of Calgarians remain undecided, or debating between one or more candidates.
Then there’s the voting turnout so far. More than 90,000 Calgarians voted early in advance polls — a drop of about a third from the last civic election in 2021.
“All of those things really point to probably very low voter turnout on Monday,” said Janet Brown.
Brown says there a number of other headlines competing for voters’ attention, including tariffs and the teachers’ strike.
“People are just so satiated with news that it’s just been very, very hard for people to wrap their minds around this municipal election,” said Brown.
Duane Bratt, political science professor at Mount Royal University, says he has noticed fewer campaign signs on homeowners’ lawns.
“I think it’s been one of the sleepier municipal campaigns, despite the significant issues at play, despite how competitive it’s been,” said Bratt.
Calgarians can expect to learn mayoral results Monday night, but the hand count means council results may not be known until Tuesday, Oct. 21 (Chelsey Mutter/CBC News)
The issues
In her firm’s polling of the issues that matter to Calgarians this election, Brown says there were some common concerns.
“The main thing that popped up was people talk about infrastructure, maintaining our roads, maintaining our sewers. That’s kind of like table stakes for a municipal government to keep those things working,” said Brown.
“But beyond that, people talked a lot about safety, safety on transit, safety on our streets, reducing crime, and people talked about spending,” she said.
To Bratt, it’s a reminder of the importance to get out and vote, because they are all issues that will fall on the desks of the new council.
“If you’re concerned about transportation, if you’re concerned about housing and condos in your neighborhood, those are all done by the municipal government,” said Bratt.
“The municipal government is the closest to the people. It deals with things that affect your day-to-day lives, much more than the provincial or federal government.”
Who will Calgarians send to city hall next? Stay tuned to CBC News Calgary for results (CBC News)
How to watch results
Tune in to CBC Calgary election coverage on Radio One, cbcnews.ca/calgary and Youtube live from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., after polls close. Host Paul Karchut will take a look at the issues facing voters across southern Alberta, with live updates from reporters in Lethbridge, Canmore, Banff and Medicine Hat.
And stay tuned to cbcnews.ca/calgary for results as they come in.
