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Albertans were also able to cast “vote anywhere” ballots, which allowed them to vote in their home electoral district from anywhere in the province. While federally that’s only possible at Elections Canada offices and on university campuses, and the four-day federal advanced voting period is slightly shorter than the five-day Albertan one, federal officials have been watching these provincial experiments with interest.

The new election law also allows for some tweaks to how polling station workers perform their duties, allowing them to rotate into different roles for lunch breaks and to clear busy spots, for example, at the ID verification table or the ballot-issuing area. Elections Canada hopes that will mean fewer lineups and delays at polling stations.

The previous Conservative government disallowed vouching before the 2015 election.

Elections Canada also unveiled more details on the return of “vouching,” where voters without proof of address can be vouched for by someone they know in the electoral district. The previous Conservative government disallowed vouching before the 2015 election, citing irregularities with the roughly 120,000 voters who were vouched for in the 2011 election.

Any voter assigned to a polling station can vouch for another voter, as long as they know the person. The vouching process has also been expanded to include workers in institutions for seniors and people with disabilities and allows the worker to vouch for one or more people in their care.

Although there have been irregularities with the vouching system, the government is trying to balance that with allowing people who don’t have proof of current address to vote, such as people who recently moved, students, Indigenous Canadians and seniors living in long-term care facilities.