Elections Alberta spent more than $84.2 million to run the 2026 referendum, which exceeded its original budget by 143 percent, as the agency said it hired more people to manually count the ballots.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure and other officials spoke to the province’s Standing Committee on Legislative Offices on Nov. 5 about the referendum and requested additional budget funding to cover the cost overruns and future election expenses.
Data from the agency showed it spent $84,268,919 on this year’s referendum, exceeding its $34,710,485 budget by $49,558,434. The agency’s annual budget is roughly $51 million.
Of that $49.5 million in additional costs, $26.1 million went toward paying 47,000 workers to count the ballots manually, $6.9 million went to renting venues and furniture, $6.3 million went to freight and postage, $5.6 million to receiving and processing the special ballots, $2.3 million to security and vehicles, and $2.2 million to additional technology equipment….