Election results were not announced by the city until late Wednesday night. The City of Medicine Hat says fiscal responsibility was its guiding principle, and budget considerations were a key factor in planning and execution.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat had a tougher time with changes mandated by the province during last month’s municipal election than similar mid-sized cities, though budget strategies also differed greatly from those reporting more successful procedures.
Official election results were not announced by the city until the night of Oct. 22, more than 48 hours after polls closed. There were no updates of any kind provided for a period of 15 hours on Oct. 21. And no updates on the mayoral race were shared for a period of more than 30 hours.
Other mid-sized municipalities had fewer roadblocks, despite facing the same set of regulations imposed as of 2024.
However, Fort McMurray, Lethbridge and Red Deer all increased their election budgets significantly to contend with provincial reforms, with the former two doubling their budgets and Red Deer adding more than $600,000 to the pot.
Medicine Hat raised its budget to $465,000 from $250,000 four years ago, while the News reported in 2021 that the city wound up surpassing that budget by $80,000.
The city says this year’s budget increase reflected inflationary pressures, the anticipated cost of hand-counting and the hiring of a chief electoral officer to oversee the count.
Medicine Hat had the smallest budget of any of the four municipalities consulted for this article, despite servicing more voters than all of its peers.
Medicine Hat did hire more election staff to count ballots than the other municipalities, with 250 workers dedicated specifically to the hand-count process. Still, results were slowest to come in Medicine Hat.
Fort McMurray had nearly as many candidates running for council as Medicine Hat, with two mayoral candidates and 40 candidates for council. A total of 10,506 voters participated in the 2025 election, making up 25.3 per cent of eligible voters.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo reported longer-than-usual wait times for election results. Still, unofficial results were released on Oct. 21.
One hundred and fifty election staff were counting ballots there until after 1 a.m. on election night, and resumed counting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Like Medicine Hat, Wood Buffalo is conducting a comprehensive review. It told the News the hand counting of ballots was a challenge for several reasons, including ones related to the changes in provincial legislation, which officials said required many adjustments to internal processes.
Wood Buffalo budgeted $600,000, double the cost of the 2021 election and $135,000 higher than the sum allocated in Medicine Hat, a city with 20,000 more residents.
Neighbouring Lethbridge announced the results of its mayoral race by the night of Oct. 21, with council and school board results following the next day. Eighteen candidates ran for council in Lethbridge, with a further four challengers vying for mayor.
Due to notably poor turnout in Lethbridge, only 17,152 people cast a ballot, amounting to only 19.35 per cent of eligible voters. Medicine Hat saw more than a thousand more votes, with 18,265 voters turning out on election day, or 37 per cent of the city’s 49,691 eligible voters.
Lethbridge spent $600,000 on its election, double its budget for 2021.
According to initial estimates, the City of Red Deer budgeted a whopping $1.5 million for this year’s election, up from just under $800,000 in 2021. More than twice as many election workers were hired, up to 441 from 202 for the previous election.
Five candidates ran for mayor in Red Deer, and 24 candidates ran for councillor.
Unofficial mayoral results were unveiled on the Tuesday evening, while council and trustee ballots followed on Oct. 22, along with official results. Red Deer had 140 election workers counting ballots.
A slim 15,463 voters turned out in Red Deer, for only 21.3 per cent of 72,766 eligible voters.
