Locations for an advance polls and Election Day polling stations in Olds for the April 16 provincial election have now been determined.
Advance polls will be held at the Olds Legion Hall from Tuesday, April 9 through Saturday, April 13.
On Election Day, polling stations will be located at Olds United Church and the Olds Legion Hall.
Polling hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during advance polling days and on Election Day.
In the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency, incumbent United Conservative (UCP) candidate MLA Nathan Cooper is facing off against Alberta Party candidate Chase Brown and New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Kyle Johnston.
To be eligible to vote, you must be:
- a Canadian citizen
- at least 18 years of age on Election Day
- ordinarily a resident in Alberta.
This year there are two new wrinkles for advance polls, according to Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills returning officer Laura Ewert.
One is a mobile poll that will be set up at Olds College Wednesday April 10 and Thursday, April 11 in rooms 954/055 at the Bell e-Learning Centre.
The idea is to provide a convenient place for students to vote. However, Ewert says non-students could also vote there.
The other new wrinkle is a much more wide-ranging way to vote in an advance poll.
"(With) our advance polls now, you can vote anywhere in Alberta. You don't have to be in your electoral division to vote," Ewert says.
"So if you're working in Fort McMurray but you're from Olds, you can vote in Fort McMurray for your proper candidate. You can go anywhere in Alberta and vote in advance polls. We can print off any of the ballots," she said.
However, Ewert stresses that's only for advance polls.
This is Ewert's second time serving as a returning officer in a provincial election. She was the returning officer for the 2015 election. She says that experience was a frantic, steep learning curve for her.
"We were hired last minute last time so we were kind of really thrown into it, but we have a good crew here," Ewert says.
The returning office is located in Three Hills. It has a staff of about five, including Ewert, a trainer and — thanks to this year's electronic advance polling — an IT staffer.
Ewert says on April 16, once all the ballots have been cast, results will likely be available fairly quickly.
"Last time we had some of the polls calling in within half an hour. Usually within an hour or two we have most of our polls called in; we have a pretty good idea what way it's going," she says.
