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Water Not Coal is asking people contacted by Elections Alberta during petition signature verification to share their experiences, as the campaign weighs a legal challenge with a filing deadline of Aug. 2.
“We’re still gathering our information. We’ve put out a public call,” campaign proponent Corb Lund says. “We want to understand their experience and make sure that their experience matches with what we’re being told by Elections Alberta.”
Water Not Coal submitted 207,435 signatures on June 10, and an initial count validated 196,088 — well above the 177,732 needed to force a referendum on new coal mining in Alberta’s Eastern Slopes.
A second-stage verification, run from June 11 to July 2, dropped the estimate to 172,088, leaving the campaign 5,644 signatures short.
Caller ID use in question
Lund says the campaign is trying to determine whether Elections Alberta used caller ID during its verification calls, and whether it did so consistently.
He says the question matters, given the timing. The province’s voter list was breached in April, exposing the personal information of 2.9 million Albertans.
If people were called without proper identification, in the wake of the privacy breach, they may not have felt comfortable sharing their information, he says.
Some people have told the campaign they did not see Elections Alberta identified on their caller display, Lund says, while acknowledging it is too early to determine whether that was isolated or widespread.
“We’re trying to find out if that was just a couple of anomalies or if it was systemic, and we’re not sure yet, honestly,” he says.
Elections Alberta responds
Elections Alberta says caller ID displaying “Elections AB” was active during the petition verification process and that testing confirmed it worked as intended.
However, the agency says some recipients may not have seen the identification because individual telephone companies may not include caller ID information in their registries or because of recipients’ own spam or caller ID settings.
“Testing indicates most major telephone companies and their discount carriers showed the caller ID and did not report the call as spam,” Elections Alberta says in a written statement to Shootin’ the Breeze.
The agency says electors selected for verification received a text message before a verification phone call if a phone number was provided on the petition. If the call was not answered, staff left a voicemail explaining the purpose of the call, providing a callback number and outlining the verification questions.
If an email address was provided instead, Elections Alberta says, electors received an email asking them to verify the information recorded on the petition.
“No signatures were deemed invalid or failed verification because an elector did not answer a phone call or respond to an email or voicemail,” the agency says.
Judicial review deadline
Water Not Coal has until Aug. 2 to file and serve an application for judicial review of Elections Alberta’s determination, as required under Section 53(2) of the Citizen Initiative Act.
The provision requires an application to be filed within 30 days of the July 2 determination. A judicial review allows the court to examine whether the decision-making process complied with the law and principles of procedural fairness.
Lund says the deadline is adding pressure, but the campaign will not be rushed into a decision.
He says the proposed challenge would not allege corruption or dishonesty by Elections Alberta. Instead, it would challenge whether the agency’s process was reasonable and fair.
Focus stays on petition
Lund says his focus right now is on the petition itself, not broader reform of Alberta’s citizen initiative process.
He says a judicial review, if the campaign proceeds, could still prompt Elections Alberta to make internal changes.
“I don’t think I’m personally going to be going after EA. I don’t have the energy for it,” he says.
Anyone wishing to share their verification experience can find an online form at verify.waternotcoal.ca.
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