Advance vote count tightens election races in Calgary, Lethbridge

An updated Elections Alberta count of advanced votes appears to have settled two local contests while raising tensions for candidates in two others.

Elections Alberta said almost 139,000 advance votes were counted Thursday. Only 84,000 ballots cast under the so-called vote anywhere rules ahead of Tuesday’s provincial election remain outstanding across the province. Those results are expected Saturday.

Premier-designate Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party captured 63 of 87 ridings in Tuesday’s provincial vote, pending the final advance vote count.

The province’s tightest race is in Calgary-Falconridge, where the unofficial results show just 155 votes separate leading United Conservative Party candidate Devinder Toor and the NDP’s Parmeet Singh, with one poll outstanding.

Elections Alberta said 1,714 vote anywhere ballots were cast for Calgary-Falconridge in other ridings.

Farther south, NDP Environment Minister Shannon Phillips saw her lead in Lethbridge-West shrink to just 206 votes over the UCP’s Karri Flatla following the revised vote count.

The spread in Calgary-Currie — where 3,212 vote anywhere ballots were to be counted — remained unchanged at 392 votes, although incumbent Brian Malkinson posted Friday on Twitter that he had conceded in a phone call to the UCP’s Nicholas Milliken.

“Nick has gained the confidence of Calgary-Currie,” he posted.

“I think Nick’s heart is in the right place, and as he implements his parties (sic) plan, I hope he remembers that core services like education, health and PPD supports are not numbers in a budget, they are needed for all the constituents of Calgary Currie to move forward together and have all possible opportunities.”

UCP candidate Jason Copping is headed to victory in Calgary-Varsity after his lead on the NDP’s Anne McGrath grew to 929 votes.

“While this is not the outcome I wanted, I respect the choice made by voters,” McGrath posted on Twitter.

Miranda Rosin of the UCP secured her win in Banff-Kananaskis where the updated count put her 1,900 votes ahead of incumbent Cam Westhead with 10,612 votes.

“After a long and suspenseful five day wait, I am honoured to wake up today as your official Member-Elect for Banff-Kananaskis,” Rosin posted on her Facebook page Friday.

“This race has been an absolute nail-biter, but the results all across Alberta could not be more exciting.”

In Edmonton, 316 votes separated the NDP’s Jon Carson from his nearest rival, Nicole Williams of the UCP, in the riding of West-Henday.

Elections Alberta said 70 per cent of Albertans voted in the election, the highest turnout in decades. It won’t consider results official until April 26.