Despite retaining their majority status in the legislature, the Alberta PCs were shut out of local ridings that they had previously held for many years during the general election on April 23. All three ridings went Wildrose.In the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre constituency, voting was “very brisk” said Donna Sandberg, the riding's returning officer.A total of 14,917 ballots were cast in the riding or 59 per cent of those who were eligible to vote. Wildrose candidate Joe Anglin topped the polls, with 7,647 votes compared to 6,145 for longtime PC MLA Ty Lund. Doreen Broska came in third for the NDP with 703 votes while Mason Sisson garnered 422 votes for the Alberta Liberals.“We had an awful lot at the advanced poll, and (April 23) was just steady I'd say … a lot of interest in this election,” said Sandberg.With the heavy turnout, Sandberg said there weren't any problems with the polls, but there were a lot of new voters in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.“I don't think there were really too many issues. There were a few people, of course, who couldn't find their polling station, but for the most part, people planned ahead and looked up where they were supposed to vote and those that did were very successful. Those that left it to the last minute had some difficulty,” she said.Sandberg said because the advanced polls were heavier than expected, it became challenging fitting all the ballots in the boxes and more boxes were required before the polls closed. On general election day, however, overstuffed boxes didn't materialize.“The ballot boxes managed to hold all the ballots quite easily (on April 23),” she said.In Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, cabinet minister Luke Oullette was defeated by Kelly Towle. Oullette finished with 6,139 votes to Towle's 7,091. The Alberta Party's Danielle Klooster finished third with 749 votes, while Patricia Norman of the NDP drew 712 votes and the Liberals' Les Vidok garnered 641 votes.A total of 15,332 ballots were cast, with 59 per cent of eligible voters marking an X.In Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Bruce Rowe completed the area sweep for the Wildrose, defeating Darcy Davis of the PCs 10,181 to 6,633 votes. The NDP's Kristie Krezanoski came in third with 565, followed closely by Garth Davis of the Alberta Liberals with 555 votes.The voter turnout was heaviest in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding, with 67 per cent of eligible voters, or 17,934 people casting ballots out of 26,649 people eligible to vote.Officials say the results remain unofficial, until Elections Alberta staff can verify all the ballots, tossing out any that were spoiled. It's expected that the official results will be tallied by May 3.
