As the campaign to elect a new leader for Alberta’s United Conservative Party reaches the homestreach, two candidates have formally asked voting to be put on hold over security concerns.
With Saturday’s leadership announcement looming, both Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer’s campaigns formally requested that polling be put on hold.
Voters began casting their ballots at 9 a.m. Thursday. The complaints were submitted to a committee later that evening.
PIN security concerns
Both cited concerns over voter security because of concerns with personal identification numbers, Janice Harrington, the party’s executive director said on Friday.
The party, however, remains confident in the process, Harrington said.
“There was a submission to the leadership election committee with regard to some issues that they had related to PIN security,” Harrington said.
“I’m not sure where it comes from because … there are a number of security processes in place.”
“I can tell you there have been no red flags raised by our auditors.”
Harrington said the vote has not been suspended but their processes are being reviewed by an auditor. The party executive and their voting officials will meet Friday morning to discuss “next steps,” she said.
“We have been, from an operational perspective, reviewing the entire process,” Harrington said.
“More than 60 per cent of the membership has already voted.”
Three candidates — Brian Jean, Doug Schweitzer and Jason Kenney — are all vying for the leadership of the newly-minted party which was created by the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta and the Wildrose Party earlier this year.
Kenney’s campaign has not been involved in the voting complaints.
According to the UCP website, registered members who did not receive PIN information as requested can call 1-844-207-1543 to register over the phone. PINs can be used to vote either online or by phone.
About 63,000 PINs have been issued so far, said Harrington.
To be eligible to cast a ballot, voters had to become official party members before the Sept. 29 deadline, said Harrington.
Members were then required to prove their identity before they could be registered officially.
All these transactions are tracked and logged, she said.
Party members who have registered to vote can enter their ballot until 5 p.m. Saturday.
Harrington said the plan is to announce the winner at a live event in Calgary between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. Saturday.
The announcement will also be streamed live from the UCP website and posted on the party’s Facebook page.