Hand-counting ballots in election increases time and cost, not security
By Lethbridge Herald on September 24, 2025.
Editor,
In response to your survey question “Is hand-counting ballots necessary……” the answer is no!
As a result of the paranoia of the UCP, “voting machines” are no longer allowed. I understand the scepticism related to voting machines, although would think that through proper technology, security issues may be addressed.
However, this decision by the UCP has significantly increased the time and cost for the municipal election, especially in the case of Lethbridge. The City of Lethbridge uses tabulating machines, not voting machines. Paper ballots are processed through theses machines and, should any question arise or physical recount be necessary, the paper ballot is available to do just that. Ballots are not destroyed until all issues have been addressed so the system is easily verifiable.
I am disappointed in Lethbridge city council and, for that matter, other municipal councils in Alberta for not strenuously challenging the UCP.
For those still in doubt, have the machines provide preliminary timely results and then, by all means, volunteer your time to do the actual physical count.
Leo VandenHeuve
Lethbridge
9-8
And you trust technology in ever other facet of your daily life? There is a guy from Nigeria looking for you, inherited money.
It appears, buckwheat, that you missed the part stating you are required to use technology to confirm your eligibility before you may cast a vote in this election.
I don’t know but I trust a machine over someone with a agenda. Name one time a voting machine has been hacked. I’ll help you out, never. Also voting machines have proved more accurate than hand counting multiple times.
Yes but you can’t destroy ballots you don’t want. These Reformers think of everything to get control of the people and what they want and these idiots who support them aren’t smart to understand that, are they?
It’s like someone who was in finance, like accounting, or banking. Before modern technology existed, they did the figuring out with a pencil/pen, and paper. It took longer to do it, than with a calculator and a computer. If you were an accountant or a banker in the 1960s, you had to really look closely at what you were doing to get it right.
Long ago, farmers did the farm work by hand, before tractors, bailers, combines and swathers were available. It was much harder to do it by hand. The farmers needed more help to do the work by hand. The modern farm equipment made things easier.
Counting of ballots will be more time consuming, less accurate, and municipalities will have to increase property taxes to pay for it. The UCP do not care.
The UCP…. United Cult of Paranoia
Yep, this whole voting machine (again, we used tabulating machines , not voting machines, big difference), came from a debunked conspiracy theory from trumps 2020 election loss.
Technology is great in the proper hand, but nothing is more authentic as going back in time and count by hand, verified by another, and not one of your peers *poof*
Danielle Smith doesn’t support democracy at all, and neither does the UCP. When Danielle Smith was the Wildrose party leader, and up to 3 years ago, she supported more autonomy and more funding for municipalities in Alberta. Now she is doing the opposite.
Electronic vote counters are 100% accurate, and they cannot be hacked, as they are not connected to any computer. Manually counting votes will not be as accurate, will take more time, and the costs will be passed onto the municipalities in Alberta, via increased municipal property taxes.
When did Danielle Smith campaign on Bill 18, Bill 20, and Bill 21? She never did. This isn’t good at all.
It’s okay to gerrymander to win an election, but we have to respond to protect democracy from conspiracy theories held by mini-maga, Take Back Alberta: Acting on the unreal to distract from their lack of ability to govern on real issues.
Treating the people like idiots is all they have ever done and the idiots who support them aren’t smart enough to understand it.
You cannot find a better province full of easy to fool idiots like ours.
As the American oilmen that I was involved said “ Albertans are the dumbest people on the planet” , and they have certainly proven it.
Re-electing Pierre Poilievre when the Conservatives in Ottawa were smart enough to kick him out proves how stupid we are, doesn’t it? They don’t even know what a true Conservative is.
You are correct. The UCP are going backwards. Why don’t they make it so people can ride a horse in cities and in towns? That would be like it was, long ago. It’s like the Social Credit Party, all over again. My is 95, and he has two younger remaining siblings left (the rest were all older), who are 93 and 90. They had the Social Credit Party for 36 years and the Alberta PCs for 44 years. It would be bad if the UCP were in power for 45 years.
So you are indicating that a machine is better than idiots counting ballots. lol. I bet you’re counting ballots.
i just love the idea of creating everything that we can to undermine the human being, and becoming as entirely dependent on the artificial world that is, pardon the expression, “humanly” possible.