EDMONTON — Elections Alberta says that although there is no guarantee that third-party advertisers will be allowed to provide scrutineers for Alberta's referendum, the chief electoral officer may need to do so to ensure balanced viewpoints on the questions. A scrutineer is an individual appointed to represent a political party or third-party advertiser and to observe voting procedures and ballot counting to maintain transparency and trust in the voting process. Alberta's deputy chief electoral officer, Dallas Stoesz, said on Thursday that the scrutineer's role during a referendum is similar to that during an election, and that the two political parties with seats in the legislature, the UCP and the Alberta NDP, are guaranteed representation. .However, the October referendum is different, as non-political groups, such as TPAs, have an interest in overseeing the process, especially regarding the Alberta independence question. TPAs are therefore allowed to submit suggested names to serve as scrutineers. Ultimately, the chief electoral officer decides whether to approve scrutineers from TPAs. Though there is no guarantee, Stoesz said Elections Alberta may need to grant some. "Decisions will be made closer to the referendum itself," said Stoesz. "The legislation provides for the ability of the chief electoral officer to provide or to appoint scrutineers from third-party advertisers for areas where there may not be scrutineers or where we need to balance the positions on different on a question.".Some Alberta independence advocates have an adversarial relationship with Elections Alberta, as they feel the electoral office has unfairly scrutinized groups on their side of the debate while allowing federalists, such as Forever Canadian, to violate advertising and financial disclosure laws. The issue came to a head in July when Keith Wilson, one of the movement's most prominent individuals, called on the chief electoral officer to either be impartial or resign. Elections Alberta has defended its actions throughout the complaints, claiming that its role is to enforce legislation as written, not to interpret it. "Elections Alberta is the non-partisan and independent office of the Alberta Legislature," reads a statement from Elections Alberta in July. "We remain neutral on the outcome of any process; our focus and concern is the fair and non-partisan conduct of the process itself."
