Nomination Day in Calgary finalizes candidates in Oct. 20 municipal election

Calgarians now know the names that will be on the Oct. 20 municipal ballot, as nomination period officially closed Monday.

There are nine people running for mayor, including incumbent Jyoti Gondek.

Two of those individuals are with municipal political parties.

In Ward 1, there are six candidates, Ward 2 has five, including incumbent Jennifer Wyness, and Ward 3 has eight.

It’s a short list in Ward 4, with just three candidates running.

Incumbent Raj Dhaliwal is among the seven names so far registered to run in Ward 5. There are four names on Ward 6’s ballott and six in Ward 7, including current councillor Terry Wong.

Ward 8 will have a new councillor after Oct. 20, as incumbent Courtney Walcott isn’t running again. There are five names on the ballot after Dave Cree withdrew Monday due to medical issues.

Seven people are running in Ward 9, which also won’t have an incumbent on the ballot.

Coun. Andre Chabot is running against three others in Ward 10.

Coun. Kourtney Penner will try to hold onto her seat in Ward 11. Two other Calgarians are challenging her.

There are four names on the ballot in Ward 12.

Coun. Dan McLean has just one challenger in Ward 13.

Rounding out the councillor hopefuls are the seven candidates in Ward 14.

An official list of nominated candidates for mayor, councillors, and school board trustees will be made available by Elections Calgary on Tuesday.

Hand-counting ballots could delay Calgary election results

Calgarians may not know who their next mayor is on election night, as Elections Calgary prepares for a slower ballot-counting process due to a provincial ban on electronic tabulators.

With ballots now being counted entirely by hand, officials say it could take up to two days to finalize results from the Oct. 20 municipal election.

In May 2024, the Alberta government passed Bill 20, which bans the use of electronic voting tabulators in municipal elections starting in October 2025. Premier Danielle Smith’s government said the move is intended to restore public confidence in the electoral process by returning to hand-counted paper ballots.

The shift is expected to cost the city an additional $3.3 million, covering more voting stations, extra staff, and supplies.

Bill 20 also allows municipal political parties.

Advance voting runs from Oct. 6 to 11, with election day set for Oct. 20.

-With files from Jillian Code