The Alberta government is considering adding citizenship status to provincial driver’s licences, according to remarks from Premier Danielle Smith and Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally.
Speaking on stage to thousands of party members at the governing United Conservative Party’s (UCP) annual general meeting in Red Deer on Nov. 1, Nally told the crowd it was a change being considered as a way to bolster security of elections.
“One of the things that we’re looking at is how we can put citizenship on the driver’s licence. So that when people come to vote we can make sure they are a Canadian citizen,” Nally said.
That comment was teed up by remarks by Smith who cited potential Chinese interference in elections as justification for “us to have more integrity in our elections, more trust in our elections.”
Smith also referenced her government’s ban on the use of vote tabulators at the municipal level, something she told the crowd her government was “working on doing the same” for provincial elections via legislation she said would come sometime next year.
Nally was not made available for an interview this week. His office issued a statement saying the change is still under consideration and is part of a plan to modernize registries.
“This initiative is still in preliminary stages and further analysis will be required before any decisions are finalized.”
‘Highly trained investigators’
Canadian Security and Itelligence Service (CSIS) documents obtained earlier this year describe Alberta as a “very attractive” target for foreign interference. While the service states those efforts are heightened in the period immediately before and after elections, the documents do not indicate voter fraud is part of the myriad of strategies employed by foreign actors.
Elections Alberta told Postmedia that it takes accusations regarding ineligibility to vote very seriously and its investigators work to resolve those complaints in a fair, transparent, and timely fashion.
“We have a team of highly trained investigators who complete thorough investigations into the complaints or allegations, using any data that is available to them,” says an Elections Alberta statement.
Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and B.C. all once featured enhanced driver’s licences that listed citizenship but have since discontinued issuing them, with B.C. slated to be the last to wind down its program next September.
Nine findings of ineligible voting
According to its website, there have been nine findings of people voting when ineligible going back to 2019 with the most recent notice issued last May and none coming between 2019 and 2013, the earliest Elections Alberta’s public data goes back.
Of those nine instances, four involved ineligible voters including two U.S. citizens one of whom, Brenda Cherry, was fined $1,750 on July 24, 2020.
Three other individuals received letters of reprimand between September 2019 and June 2021 for voting more than once.
And, Alberta Liberal Party candidate Abdulhakim Hussein, as well as an individual named Sadia Dhore, were each fined $5,000 last November for “inducing and aiding another person to vote or attempt to vote, when knowing they were not qualified to vote” during the 2022 Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection won by current Energy Minister Brian Jean.
In order to cast a ballot in Alberta elections, voters are required to prove their identity by:
- Government-issued photo identification
- Two pieces of ID, both with full name, and one with current address
- Being vouched for by another registered elector with ID from the same voting area
- Having an authorized signatory complete an attestation form
In 2019, 98 per cent of the 1.9 million voters proved identity and address using either photo ID or two pieces of other ID, according to Elections Alberta.
Opposition immigration and multiculturalism critic Lizette Tejada said those numbers highlight how the issue is not worth the government’s time, energy, or money.
“We already have several checks and balances and processes in place to determine voter eligibility and to confirm voter eligibility,” she said, adding the government should address more pressing issues.
“Not a single person has mentioned this as what’s on their list of priorities.”