EDMONTON — Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk says Alberta's laws requiring physical vote counting will create issues for Elections Alberta, claiming that the electoral office is being setup for a disaster in October when they try to calculate referendum results. "So, this is a nightmare about to happen, and I'm really keeping fingers crossed for Elections Alberta because I think they are being set up for a failure, for a disaster," said Lukaszuk on Wednesday's episode of Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen. "This is something that will be very difficult to manage, but the premier appointed this elections commissioner. This is her appointment, so she cannot blame it on the Elections Commissioner. I think he's doing the best job with what he has been given." .In 2024, the UCP passed legislation to ban electronic vote tabulators, claiming that the measure was meant to ensure election integrity and trust among Albertans. Lukaszuk said Elections Alberta’s issue is partially created by the fact that voters will receive a ballot for each question, which means 10 ballots per voter, all of which will need to be counted by hand."You will probably end up with a situation where we will have to wait for several days for outcomes, and there will be errors, because people err; machines don't tend to err as much, so the tabulators have always been fine," Lukaszuk said. "So, there will be a lot of questions about the validity of this referendum, I'm certain, simply because of the volume." .Elections Alberta launched the largest electoral event worker recruitment campaign in June, as the office estimates it will need 60,000 individuals to complete an unofficial ballot count within 48 hours after the referendum. "This will be exceptionally difficult for Elections Alberta to stage, which will then undermine people's confidence in the entire process," Lukaszuk said. Despite the challenge, Lukaszuk claimed he is keeping his fingers crossed for Elections Alberta because he has confidence in them. “I always did,” Lukaszuk said.
