From the Editor: Well, that was just terrible

By Scott Schmidt on October 25, 2025.

And just like that, another municipal election cruises by in the blink of an eye.

Just kidding. If you ever find you have four days to live, ask to hold another hand-counted election in Medicine Hat, because every hour since Monday felt like an eternity.

After what must be the longest period from ballot to results in city history, there will be myriad questions, vented frustrations and pointed accusations to follow for quite some time. And don’t worry, if you haven’t thought of many, we at the News sure have.

As both a liaison for the public and an official record keeper of local history, the News takes coverage of local elections extremely seriously. We knew there were going to be hiccups, we knew the count would likely drag on and we knew everyone involved in carrying out this local election were also dealing with new rules and procedures for the very first time.

The first hours after polls closed were actually rather smooth, the city kept to its promise for hourly updates and the results we did get were rather definitive in regards to the mayoral race – the News was able to declare Linnsie Clark for a second term before finishing Monday night.

However, that’s when the successes ended. Counting was to resume Tuesday morning at 10:30 with hourly results to follow, but while updates did begin to trickle in, it wasn’t long before the entire city was wondering why nothing was coming through for mayor. A slow drip of council votes were coming, but as business day neared end Tuesday, we had all gone more than 15 hours without a single new tally for mayor.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort by media; the News wasn’t the only one hounding city and election officials for answers throughout the day, and we were soon in contact with each other to share our frustrations and, frankly, mounting concern. The News was finally able to obtain percentages of reported polls in time for print Tuesday, with helpful effort from city communications, but a full day of all-hands-on-deck work produced little else, and no one was or is happy about that.

We have yet to receive explanation as to what exactly went down behind the scenes this week – was it all just new procedures, or did something go wrong? But we intend to get one, because Hatters deserve one.

Seeing as many of the new council members discussed transparency as a priority during their campaigns, it seems demanding a detailed report on how this election was handled and how it played out would be a prudent place to start. None of this even mentions the number of polling stations, or bodies to work them, the long voting lines or the seemingly unhelpful pre-registration voters were to do in order to “save time.”

Our commitment is we will get answers to these and many other questions, and we won’t stop until we have them. What we ask of our readers, of our fellow Hatters, is to temper the blame game for now, because a lot more went into this debacle than a presumed lack of preparation.

And to the City of Medicine Hat, if this ridiculous week that Hatters, city employees and media just experienced is entirely due to the new election rules handed down by the province, then say so. Diplomacy will only usher in blame. If you tip-toe around any of this, then you welcome on your own the public backlash it will create.

But if mistakes were made, or improvements are needed, on your part, then be honest, be open. Everyone can live with human error, what people can’t stand is silence.

And to the province, namely Premier Danielle Smith and MLA Justin Wright, are you happy? Is this what you hoped for? Do you feel this week put more trust in the accuracy of our local elections? Or, was the chaos the point?

Think it over this weekend, because we’ll be calling you next week.

Scott Schmidt is editor of the Medicine Hat news

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