If you don’t want to wait until election day to cast your ballot, advance polls will be open April 9th to the 13th at locations all across Alberta.

Advance polls will be a bit different than in previous elections. The previous government implements a number for changes in 2017 including one allowing eligible voters to cast their ballot at any advance polling station in Alberta.

This means if you live in Airdrie, but work in Calgary, you could go vote at a polling place in Calgary for your riding here in Airdrie.

“People are really busy running kids around to programs, or they’re busy with activities and work and things,” explained deputy chief electoral officer Drew Westwater. “They don’t have to go to a dedicated poll during the advance polls, they can go to anyone where they’re at or where they are on those days.”

On the actual election day April 16th, 2019, residents will have to vote at the polling station listed for their address.

While the new advance polling system may make it more convenient, Westwater said it will also take longer to sort and count those ballots as they will need to be sent to Elections Alberta's Edmonton warehouse to be counted.

That means the results of the advance vote won’t be known until three or four days later. Westwater said that could have an impact on who wins a closely contested riding.

“That’s something the government was aware of when they made the changes to the legislation,” said Westwater. “They said they’d be prepared to wait even if it’s a close race for a couple of extra days to get the vote totals to allow the extra convenience for voters.”

In the 2015 provincial election, 235,410 people voted ahead of election day, up 31 per cent from the 2012 election.

A list of polling places has not been published yet.

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