Advanced voting for Olympic plebiscite now open

By Matty Hume, November 6 2018 —

Advanced voting for the 2026 Calgary Olympic bid plebiscite is now open. Calgarians can visit a polling station — with one on the University of Calgary campus in MacEwan Hall open tomorrow — from 11 a.m to 7 p.m. on Nov. 6 and 7 to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on whether or not they think the City of Calgary should bid to host the 2026 Winter Games.

The official plebiscite takes place Nov. 13 with polling stations open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the city. There are multiple voting stations in each ward that can be found on the city’s Vote of the Electors website. Identification is required and may include a driver’s licence, a bank statement or a government benefits document.

The plebiscite comes after two Calgary city council votes on Sept. 11 and Oct. 31, in which councillors voted against ending the plebiscite and voted against recommendations to halt bid efforts, respectively.

The latter vote came after a funding agreement between the City of Calgary, the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada was reached late in the evening of Oct. 30. The total cost of the 2026 Calgary Olympics bid is approximately $5.1 billion, with contributions of $700 million from the province and approximately $1.4 billion from the federal government.

In an interview with the Gauntlet, Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell said she was concerned that Calgarians would not have enough time to cast an informed vote.

“I questioned that compressed time frame in September and we haven’t progressed very far since then, so I’m even more concerned that Calgarians will be unable to make an informed decision,” Farrell said.

Voting information and polling locations can be found here.