Here are three simple things you can do to make voting easy.
Register to vote
If you're 18 or older, a Canadian citizen, and ordinarily live in Alberta, you can vote!
Make voting easier by registering to vote ahead of time, before you go to the polls. You can register right now at Elections Alberta Voterlink. You will need your Driver’s License or Alberta Identification Card to register online.
If you don’t have those, you will register in person when you vote by bringing valid identification to confirm your name and current address. You can download a list of authorized identification forms here.
Plan your Vote
Some of us forget to vote if we leave it to the last minute. Scheduling a time to vote helps keep us on track.
Depending on your work schedule, you may be able to get time off to vote. By law, you’re entitled to 3 hours in a row for voting. For example, if you work from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., you would only have one hour to vote from 9 to 10 a.m., or two hours from 6 to 8 p.m. Your employer would then decide when you can take time off – with no loss in pay – to vote.
If you’re worried about not being able to vote on April 16, you can vote in the Advance Polls or by Special Ballot.
Advance Polls are open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9 to Saturday, April 13. Yes, you can vote on a Saturday! You can also vote at any Advance Poll location across Alberta, so you and your co-workers can all vote at a nearly Advance Poll together.
If you can’t make it on Election Day, during the Advance Polls, or if you know who you’re voting for already, you can register to vote by Special Ballot here.
Get to know your candidates
This might sound obvious, but you should also get to know who you’re voting for before you vote for them.
To learn more about your candidates, you need to know which riding you’re in. You can find your riding and where you vote by registering to vote, and then visit the Elections Alberta Candidates page to find your candidates.
So where do the candidates and their parties stand on the issues that matter to you?
AUPE members are talking about three big issues this election: protecting public services, our pensions, and public health care.
You can find out more about where the major political parties stand on these issues by visiting your AUPE Votes website.