The outcome of the Edmonton mayoral election remains uncertain until at least Tuesday morning, as the vote counting process was halted at 1 a.m. Officials indicated that counting would resume at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Despite closing more than two hours behind schedule on Monday night, all voting stations for Edmonton’s municipal election remained open. Reports from polling stations across the city highlighted extensive wait times, particularly in central and northern Alberta, where some locations experienced waits exceeding an hour.
Election authorities emphasized that individuals in line by 8 p.m. were entitled to vote. Unofficial data from Edmonton Elections indicated a voter turnout of 30.27%, with 205,758 out of 679,830 eligible voters participating. This turnout marked the lowest since 2007 when Mayor Stephen Mandel was re-elected with a 27.24% turnout. The 2021 civic election in Edmonton saw a record-breaking 236,000 voters casting their ballots.
By 1:25 a.m. on Monday, unofficial results from 48 of 236 polls for the mayoral race showed Andrew Knack leading with 20,540 votes and Tim Cartmell following with 15,645 votes. Thirteen candidates were vying for the mayoral position. Additionally, all wards in Edmonton had reported early results by that time. In comparison, Elections Calgary had unofficially counted over 327,000 votes in the mayoral race, with 349 of 380 polls reporting by 1:35 a.m. on Tuesday.
In Edmonton, where Mayor Amarjeet Sohi opted not to seek re-election, voters were selecting a new mayor from a pool of 13 candidates. Furthermore, 81 candidates were contending for 12 city council seats across Edmonton’s municipal wards. Voters could access information about their ward and voting locations on the City of Edmonton website.
Numerous voters in Edmonton encountered substantial delays while attempting to cast their votes on Monday. Edmonton Elections attributed these delays to the altered voting process this year. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams highlighted that municipalities had been aware of the new election regulations since spring 2024 and had sufficient time to devise a plan. He stated that local authorities should communicate any issues leading to delays to voters and candidates.
The manual counting of ballots was implemented for this year’s municipal elections in Alberta, replacing the previous electronic voting tabulators. Edmonton Elections disclosed that ballots for the mayoral, councillor, and school trustee races would be tallied separately, with mayoral results published first. The preliminary vote count was expected to conclude by Tuesday, with official results due by noon on Friday, as per the City of Edmonton’s guidelines.
