Your 2nd party of choice, might be your only choice in the Alberta election

The candidate nomination deadline for the upcoming election has passed, and the full list of candidates running is made.

But if someone doesn’t want to vote NDP or UCP, their preferred party may not even have a candidate running in their riding.

What will those voters do, and will it make a difference in the upcoming Alberta election?

Those planning to cast their ballot for the NDP or the UCP likely won’t have a problem finding a candidate in their riding. But, if their political allegiance lies with another party, that could be a different story.

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Data scientist John Santos says voters who find themselves in this situation could do a number of different things.

“It might be that they just decide to hold their nose and vote for the lesser of the two evils so to speak, one of the two main parties that they don’t like,” he explained. “Or they might choose to spoil their ballot, or they might even just choose to not show up to the polling station at all.”

Santos says it’s difficult to tell if the voters that “hold their nose and vote” will make a difference in the election, but it could make a difference in some close races in Calgary.