With the Oct. 19 referendum fast approaching, Albertans are preparing to answer 10 questions put forward by the provincial government. Half of the ballots are categorized as immigration-related.
We’ve already broken down the first immigration question, which asks voters whether Alberta should take more control over immigration from the federal government.
And we’ve untangled questions two, three and four, which offer different policy methods for restricting temporary residents’ access to public and social services.
Now, we’re analyzing question five, which asks: “Do you support the government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?”
In a statement to CBC News, the province said if this question is adopted, it will develop “clearer voting rules” that require individuals to show proof citizenship to vote in a provincial elections.
“Alberta is adding a citizenship indicator to driver’s licenses and ID cards which will also be accepted as proof,” said Sam Blackett, the premier’s spokesperson, in an email.
“This will help make sure that only Albertans who are Canadian citizens are represented in the outcomes of elections.”
While this question caps off the set of immigration questions in the referendum, the Alberta branch of the Canadian Bar Association points out it “is not primarily an immigration status question.”
Simply put, the association says the question “concerns how Alberta verifies citizenship for voting and whether proof requirements burden eligible citizens,” in a document analyzing the question from a legal perspective.
It also seems to insinuate that voter fraud is taking place, or at least that there’s the risk of it happening, according to Andrea Lawlor, an associate professor in the department of political science at McMaster University specializing in election law.
“It seems to cue to citizens of Alberta that there are concerns about who is accessing the right to vote and whether or not they have the constitutional right to do that,” she says.
But evidence of voter fraud in Alberta — and at the federal level — is sparse.
And Lawlor suggests the question may be influenced by rhetoric south of the border, where allegations of voter fraud in the U.S. election system are more commonplace.
That sentiment, she says, could fuel a similar distrust of election management bodies in Canada — without the evidence to back it up.
Let’s take a look at the facts.
Only Canadian citizens over the age of 18 can vote in Canada’s federal elections and Alberta’s provincial elections.
Alberta electors must reside in Alberta.
It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in Canadian elections.
In both federal and Alberta’s provincial elections, electors can show one piece of government-issued photo ID with a person’s name, address and photo, or two pieces of ID without a photo if both contain the elector’s name and at least one shows their current address.
Electors without ID can also have another elector vouch for them. Both provincially and federally, the elector must live in the same voting area and be able to prove their identity and address. Federal electors without ID must declare their identity and address in writing and, in Alberta, the voucher must sign a declaration stating they know the elector.
The provincial Election Act, which outlines the definition of fraudulent voting, states that when a person “votes or attempts to vote when the person knows or ought to know that the person is not qualified to vote,” they commit a “corrupt practice.”
This applies whether a person votes fraudulently on purpose or by mistake, the province’s elections agency told CBC News.
Voter fraud is “exceptionally rare,” says Elections Alberta, the province’s independent, non-partisan office responsible for administering provincial elections, byelections and referendums.
The agency has found only three cases related to voter ineligibility across all provincial election events since 2023.
At the federal level, in 2024 and 2025, the commissioner of Elections Canada imposed fines between $1,000 and $1,250 on three people who voted in the 2021 federal election as non-citizens.
On its website, Elections Canada notes that “voting by non-citizens is rare and has not been used as part of a co-ordinated plan to disrupt federal elections.”
Elections Alberta adds “there is no evidence suggesting ineligible voters voting is a growing concern.”
But while there isn’t proof of widespread voter fraud in Canada, the numbers show the perception of it happening is different from reality.
A 2025 public opinion study from Elections Canada found that about two in five (43 per cent) electors think that someone impersonating someone else is a type of voter fraud that happens in Canadian federal elections.
Two in five (40 per cent) think that someone voting who is not a Canadian citizen happens “often” or “sometimes.”
Earlier this year, Alberta became the only province to mandate Canadian citizenship markers on new driver’s licences. When the change was announced in 2025, Premier Danielle Smith said the move would “ensure that only eligible citizens cast ballots.”
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The province’s referendum website says the legislature would make the final decision on whether an Alberta driver’s licence would be enough to prove voting eligibility if it indicates citizenship status. It expects that a passport, driver’s licence with a citizenship marker, citizenship card, birth certificate or Treaty Status card would suffice.
The Alberta government also says the policy change proposed in the referendum would not apply to municipal elections or party nominations.
“This whole idea of voter identification and what the appropriate bar is, is a very live issue at all levels of government,” Lawlor says.
“But the idea of putting it on the referendum ballot is very much a political signal that suggests that this is something that the Alberta government wants the public to think about, but they aren’t exactly furnishing the evidence that this is a problem.”
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Lawlor adds that the question signals “that Canadians, Albertans should be more skeptical of their elections management institutions.”
Polling has shown support for tightening the rules around voting, in line with what the province suggests.
A Research Co. poll from August found 66 per cent of respondents support requiring proof of citizenship when voting. Out of all five immigration-related ballot questions the polling firm posed in its survey, this question received the greatest support.
“It seems like people believe that this is the right course of action and, you know, there’s a lot of fear about what could happen if you have somebody who’s not a citizen voting in an election, ” said Mario Canseco, president of the Vancouver-based polling firm.
Of the poll respondents, 84 per cent of those who voted for the UCP in the 2023 provincial election said they would vote “yes” to question five, compared to 50 per cent of NDP voters.
“It’s the type of message that people hear and think ‘well yes, you know, I don’t want any elections — especially if it’s a close election — being decided by five or six people who voted without permission,'” Canseco said. He pointed out, however, that has not been a widespread issue.
When asked about the little evidence of voter fraud in Alberta, the government again referred to its website, which says the rule change “will help make sure that only Albertans who are Canadian citizens are represented in the outcomes of elections.”
The province did not answer why this referendum question is categorized as an “immigration-related” question.
Voter fraud has become a “highly politicized issue” in the U.S., Lawlor says, despite there being little evidence of it occurring on a large scale.
“It has been taken up by the Republican Party, particularly the administration of [U.S. President Donald] Trump as a political tool to cast the results of elections that are unfavourable into dispute, and they’ve been moderately successful at doing that.
“Certainly they’ve riled their base … to believe that voter fraud is happening, and that not only is it more widespread than the data would indicate, but that it’s actually changing electoral outcomes not in favour of the Republican Party.”
Earlier this year, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to approve the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — or SAVE America Act — marking the third year in a row that the House passed similar legislation.
The bill would require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.
A 2014 study published in the Washington Post found that out of more than one billion ballots cast between 2000 to 2014, only 31 credible instances of impersonation fraud (a type of voter fraud) were found. That number was also likely inflated, noted author Justin Levitt, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Still, some states have tried to mandate proof of citizenship in the voting process. Recently, a federal judge blocked the state of Ohio from requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote at motor vehicles offices. In Michigan, a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to prove U.S. citizenship failed to reach the state’s November election ballot.
A “yes” vote for Alberta’s referendum question on voter ID would make voting rules more strict, requiring electors to present proof of citizenship.
If it becomes law, Alberta would be the first Canadian province to require proof of citizenship in order to vote.
And Lawlor says if the law is implemented as the province suggests, some groups of citizens could be disenfranchised from the voting process, including people who are less likely to have the required documentation: Canadians with lower incomes, people who struggle with housing, seniors transitioning from their homes into assisted care facilities, and students who are highly mobile.
New Canadians could also be at risk of disenfranchisement, she says.
“And depending on where they are in their immigration and settlement process, they may lack forms of identification even where they are eligible to vote,” she adds.
If the question receives a majority “yes,” the road for the policy actually becoming law, like in the U.S., would not be so simple.
The Canadian Bar Association says that because the right to vote is protected by Section 3 of the Charter (democratic rights), the legal significance depends on whether eligible citizens can still vote through practical alternatives.
“The new Alberta citizenship marker may assist some voters, but it will not help everyone immediately, including people with older cards, missing documents, name discrepancies, or delays obtaining replacement documents,” the association notes.
Lawlor says “the law would almost certainly — and immediately — be subject to a Charter challenge.”
“Historically, courts have not looked favourably on attempts to restrict voter enfranchisement unless there is a compelling reason for it. So the Alberta government would have a high bar to clear before the courts said that this law was constitutional.”
