Chief electoral officer acknowledges Albertans’ fear after voter list debacle

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi also commented Friday, remarking that the situation is extremely serious.

“Alberta’s New Democrats are calling for an emergency meeting and the summoning of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Elections Alberta to testify before MLAs. We have written to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices calling for this emergency meeting, including our request for the CEO of Elections Alberta to appear and testify,” Nenshi said.

“Alberta’s New Democrats immediately alerted authorities upon learning about an alleged privacy breach on April 17. Journalists have now publicly reported they alerted Elections Alberta weeks earlier about these concerns. These delays in taking action to protect the privacy of Albertans must be fully explained.”

Elections Alberta shared information related to all of the aforementioned questions in its Friday release.

The following is directly from Elections Alberta:

Why did Elections Alberta not start an investigation sooner?

Elections Alberta is held to a very high standard on what we can and cannot investigate. The legislation requires that we must have “reasonable grounds to believe an offence has occurred” to start investigations. “Reasonable grounds” is a much higher standard than “grounds to warrant” (the previous standard in the legislation), or “what might seem obvious” based on a complainant’s suspicions or beliefs. This is similar to the amount of evidence that, in a criminal matter, police would need to arrest someone. Elections Alberta takes all complaints seriously, whether or not it is able to start an investigation.

Keep in mind, Elections Alberta is prohibited by law from commenting on any complaint or investigation that may or may not be happening.

A typical complaint progression looks like this:

A complaint or information is received.
A complaint or information may not provide the evidence needed. If it does not, we are not able to initiate an investigation.
We will seek clarification from the complainant where possible.
Where an investigation is not started, we hold the information and monitor the situation.
As time progresses, if enough information to establish reasonable grounds is received, we start an investigation.

In the case of the unauthorized use of the List of Electors, as soon as we were able to share information on the injunction, and the data breach, we made two public statements, in the interests of the public, sharing as much information as we could.

I issued a cease and desist letter on April 28, 2026, sent representatives to ensure the database was not being accessed at a Centurion Group event on April 29, and had an emergency injunction issued by the Court of King’s Bench on the morning of April 30, 2026.

We are now working closely with law enforcement and other agencies on this matter, and are doing everything we can within the limits of the legislation.

Who has the information and how is it being used?

The Court Order directs the Centurion Project Ltd. and the Republican Party of Alberta to, within four days of the Order:

Identify every person or entity the Centurion Project Ltd. and the Republican Party of Alberta have provided a copy of the List of Electors, or a portion of the List of Electors, and
Identify every person or entity the Centurion Project Ltd. and the Republican Party of Alberta have permitted to access the information from the List of Electors or portion of the List of Electors, and
Provide to the Chief Electoral Officer all contact information the Centurion Project Ltd. and the Republican Party of Alberta have for these people or entities.

In our news release yesterday, we highlighted details of the injunction obtained and served.

What steps can be taken to prevent a similar situation in the future?

As the legislation is currently written, Elections Alberta cannot prevent an unauthorized distribution or use of a List of Electors provided to a registered political party or other authorized entity. Elections Alberta may only ensure compliance with and enforcement of the legislation. Elections Alberta administers provincial electoral legislation in Alberta that is passed by the Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta does not write legislation.

On May 9, 2025, the Chief Electoral Officer wrote to all members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta outlining several concerns with Bill 54: Justice Statutes Amendment Act before it was passed. The Chief Electoral Officer’s letter included a specific section on “Changing the Threshold for Investigation to the Criminal Law Standard of “Reasonable Grounds””.

The letter warned that:

“[u]nder Bill 54, for an investigation to begin, the Election Commissioner will need to be satisfied that a breach of the Legislation has occurred, before they can speak to anyone about the allegation, or gather and review any records. Practically this means that the onus will fall on a complainant to provide a substantively completed investigation in order for the Election Commissioner to look into a matter.”

The letter went on to describe the potential impact on Albertans:

“The proposed changes will eliminate the majority of the compliance activities undertaken by the Election Commissioner and impact Albertans’ trust that the rules… are being followed.”

Elections Alberta can confirm that requiring “reasonable grounds” in Legislation has indeed impacted Albertans in this and other matters, as predicted in that letter.

In addition to the recommendations provided in its May 9, 2025, letter to the Legislative Assembly, Elections Alberta is preparing further recommendations for legislative changes that will strengthen our democratic system.

What is the impact on Citizen Initiative Petitions?

The Legislation prevents Elections Alberta from confirming or denying whether the name of a person who inquires is on a signature sheet for a Citizen Initiative petition. The Legislation also prevents Elections Alberta from removing the name of person at their request from a signature sheet for a Citizen Initiative petition.

Elections Alberta’s role is to validate and verify the petition signature sheets as they are delivered by the proponent or petition applicant.

Consequential amendments to the signature verification processes

The Chief Electoral Officer has directed that the Citizen Initiative petition verification process be amended. Verification after today’s date will include determining if any of the seeded names from the Republican Party of Alberta’s List of Electors are contained in any incoming petition. If any of the seeded names are included, further scrutiny will result.

This updated process will apply to “A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence” petition, the “No New Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains” petition, and the two current recall petitions. The updated process will also apply to all petitions in the future.

The amendment is in addition to the existing steps that Elections Alberta takes to verify the petition signature sheets. Elections Alberta staff currently contacts a statistically valid random sample of electors whose signatures are on the petition to verify their information and signatures, using the contact information recorded on the petition signature sheets.

Final comments

Elections Alberta supports the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta’s April 30th statement regarding the need for legislation that protects the personal information of Albertans that is in the hands of registered political parties.

by Josh Hall