Alberta municipalities discuss tabulator with Danielle Smith [Video]

Alberta municipal leaders are calling for the provincial government to reverse its plan to ban vote counting machines, saying it’s more costly and time consuming to count by hand.

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However, Premier Danielle Smith told reporters at the Alberta Municipalities convention in Red Deer on Thursday that electronic tabulators have failed to produce faster results and confidence in them.

“We’re going to go back to doing things the old-fashioned way, and we’ll see how it works,” said Smith.

The premier said the province has asked municipalities for a tally of the costs so it can help cover them, and estimated about 30 municipalities use tabulators.

Last year, members of Smith’s United Conservative Party voted overwhelmingly to ban ballot-counting machines in provincial elections, citing security concerns.

But a Thursday resolution from the City of St. Albert calling …