Thousands of Alberta referendum mail-in ballots invalid due to errors: officials

With less than two weeks to go until the Alberta referendum, the province’s election administrator says more than 3,000 mail-in ballots have been returned with errors that make them invalid.

Elections Alberta says some ballot packages were returned with either declaration forms missing, errors or issues with identification.

But they say there’s still time to submit the correct information via email.

Albertans are to vote on a series of questions on Oct. 19, including whether to stay in Canada or begin the process to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation.

Elections Alberta says they’ve verified about a third of more than 652,000 ballot packages that went out to eligible voters.

Hiring of extra staff continues, with more than two-thirds of the 60,000 workers needed having been hired.