The outcome of the mayoral race in Edmonton remains uncertain until at least Tuesday morning as the vote count was halted at 1 a.m. Election officials announced that counting would resume at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. All voting stations in the city closed over two hours late on Monday night, leading to extended wait times at polling stations across central and northern Alberta.
Despite the delays, election authorities emphasized that voters who were in line by 8 p.m. were allowed to remain in line until they cast their votes. The unofficial voter turnout for Edmonton was reported at 30.27%, with 205,758 out of 679,830 eligible voters participating, marking the lowest turnout since 2007.
In the 2021 municipal election, a record-breaking 236,000 voters cast their ballots in Edmonton. As of 1:25 a.m. on Monday, unofficial results for the mayoral race showed Andrew Knack leading with 20,540 votes, followed by Tim Cartmell with 15,645 votes out of a total of 13 mayoral candidates.
Across all wards in Edmonton, early results were being reported. Meanwhile, in Calgary, more than 327,000 votes had been unofficially counted in the mayoral race, with 349 out of 380 polls reporting in.
Alberta witnessed council elections in numerous rural and urban local governments, including 19 municipalities with city status, 105 towns, 78 villages, and 63 municipal districts and counties. Additionally, 61 school board elections took place on Monday.
In Edmonton, where Mayor Amarjeet Sohi opted not to seek re-election, voters are selecting a new mayor from a pool of 13 candidates. The city also has 81 candidates vying for 12 city council seats in each municipal ward.
Several voters in Edmonton faced long wait times to cast their votes on Monday. The election process this year, according to Edmonton Elections, differed from previous years and contributed to the delays. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams noted that municipalities had ample time to prepare for the new election rules, implemented since the spring of 2024.
The manual counting of ballots replaced the use of electronic voting tabulators in this year’s municipal elections in Alberta. Edmonton Elections confirmed that votes for mayor, councilors, and school trustees would be counted individually, with mayoral ballot results to be revealed first.
The preliminary vote count is expected to conclude by Tuesday, with official election results due by noon on Friday. This election season saw heightened civic engagement, with voters across the province demonstrating the importance of participating in local democracy.
