EDMONTON -- Albertans across the province began lining up and casting their ballots Tuesday in the province’s historic vote on separation.
Elections Alberta opened the doors at 310 polling stations for the first of five days of advanced voting ahead of the official polling day on Oct. 19.
One downtown Edmonton polling station saw a lineup that stretched almost half a block after doors opened at 9 a.m., with voters spending anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour to cast their ballots.
Premier Danielle Smith has put 10 questions to a vote, including whether Alberta should remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on quitting Confederation.
Some voters wore their vote on their sleeves by dawning hats or sweaters with the Canadian flag to go to the polls, including Christopher Hashmi.
“It is obviously a bad idea,” Hashmi said of separation, adding that he thought Alberta would only be more vulnerable to the interests of the United States and oil and gas corporations if the province went its own way.
Lizzy Somerville said it was patriotism that inspired her to vote to stay in Canada.
“Canada works better together,” she said.
For Samara O’Hagan, the issue of separation comes down to concerns over who has the rights to the land.
“I’m Indigenous, so it’s very important to me,” she said.
“It would just be totally wrong, essentially stealing land from Indigenous people. Alberta should not be able to do that.”
The other nine referendum questions have to do with immigration reform and Canada’s Constitution.
Somerville said she voted against all but one of the premier’s proposals. She voted yes to lobbying other provincial governments to garner support for abolishing the Senate.
She said the upper house was “useless” and that if abolishment wasn’t an option, she’d like to see the seats be subject to elections rather than the current appointment process handled by the prime minister.
Hashmi said he voted “no to the nine” — a slogan used by critics and third-party advertisers pushing against Smith’s referendum proposals. He said he would have considered voting for Senate abolition, but felt doing so would be a sign of support for Smith’s government.
“Is the unelected Senate bad? Yes, it sucks. It is an archaic and broken part of our Constitution,” he said.
“But Danielle Smith and her government are a broken and archaic part of my day-to-day life.”
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi was expected to cast his vote at an advanced poll in Calgary on Tuesday.
The start of advanced voting comes after Elections Alberta saw record interest in special ballots for the referendum, with roughly 658,000 Albertans requesting to vote by mail.
A spokesperson for the agency, Michelle Gurney, said that as of Monday evening about 391,000 mail-in ballots have been returned ahead of Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline.
Gurney also said about 46,000 workers have been hired to facilitate the vote and hand count the ballots. The agency has been aiming to hire 60,000 workers.
By Jack Farrell
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2026.
