Braid: Former chief electoral officer turned away by his former agency in bid to vote in referendum

Of all the oddities around voting in the referendum, this is surely the weirdest of all. Elections Alberta refused to accept a ballot from the former boss of Elections Alberta.

Glen Resler, chief electoral officer from 2013-23, was late mailing his special ballot because he’d been out of the province.

Resler says he doubted his envelope would arrive by mail before Friday’s deadline.

He decided to march the ballot over to Elections Alberta’s headquarters in Edmonton — his old office.

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They wouldn’t take the envelope. It could only arrive by mail, they said.

Resler even spoke to his successor, Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure, about the matter.

“It is a barrier to voting and will result in the disenfranchisement of my (and others’) vote.”

Resler said several people who came in behind him to drop off their envelopes were also refused.

Resler feels his old outfit is “deliberately putting up roadblocks to enable Albertan electors to vote by special ballot.”

Having seen the social media reports, Resler realized he might have a problem. But he figured his attempt might force a change.

“I thought, maybe this is the trigger. Maybe they’ll do the right thing and enable a section of the legislation and allow the delivery by hand.”