A higher than usual voter turnout kept elections officers busy Tuesday, May 5.
Officers were so busy in fact that they had to scramble to find enough registration forms for people not on the registration list in the riding. Approximately four people were unable to vote later in the day at the Mecca Glen School polling location as forms had run out earlier on.
Marla Kikel and her son were at the polling station later in the day and were told they would have to wait. She was unhappy as she had to wait and eventually left without voting.
“I’d like some answers. My only concern (is) was this the only polling station?” asked Kikel.
The difficulty for returning officer Margaret Devries was that there was a higher than normal voter turnout, especially among younger generations, and once officers realized they were running out of forms, they had to travel quite a distance to get more of them.
Devries says in Blackfalds turnout was so large that there was a line up out the door for many hours. “We had way more voters that weren’t on the voters’ list,” said Devries.
“We had forms going all over the place,” she added.
She believes there were four people at Mecca Glen who were unable to vote on Tuesday. Devries said she called the individuals who couldn’t vote at Mecca Glen and apologized for the mishap.