StettlerLocal.com January 11, 2021 @ 5:30am
The 2021 Municipal Election nominations opened January 1, 2021. This year’s Municipal Election will be held October 18, 2021 and the deadline to file nomination papers is September 20, 2021. The big change to the municipal electoral process for this year’s election was the nomination period for interested candidates was formerly one day and it is now almost eight months.
The County and Town of Stettler are preparing for this year’s municipal election and provided us with further information.
“With modifications to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) in 2020, the County of Stettler and other municipalities across Alberta prepared to accept nomination papers beginning January 1, 2021. Nomination papers will be accepted for the 2021 County of Stettler Municipal Election until noon on September 20, 2021. To note, there is a $100 fee required to accompany nomination papers at the County of Stettler. Nomination papers and a guide for candidates, which is full of helpful and useful information, are both available for download from our website under Council/Elections.
In December, our Council appointed Doreen Nixon as our Returning Officer for the 2021 election. Please contact Ms. Nixon with any questions, and as she does not work out of our offices anyone wishing to submit nomination papers must make an appointment with her to do so, by contacting her at 587-799-1132 or emailing ro@stettlercounty.ca.” Niki Thorsteinsson, Director of Communications, County of Stettler.
Of interest for women running for office, the Government of Alberta notes that in the 2013 municipal election, Albertans voted 490 women out of a possible 1,874 municipal positions. Alberta’s provincial average for women in elected positions is close to 30%. That percentage is lower at 17% in municipal districts, 20% in summer villages and 31% in villages. To view the Ready for Her overview, visit https://www.alberta.ca/ready-for-her.aspx.
“The big change is that in previous elections there was a singular day and now that period has been extended to a period of months. It gives people more time to prepare to consider submitting a nomination for election. The Town of Stettler will be examining the election process under the COVID-19 lens on how to make it a safe nomination process during the coming months. We are going to look at things that we haven’t done before to make it safer and whether that be changing how we offer voting and ballot submissions. We hope to see residents engaged in the election process as we look ahead to how different things may be in six months.” Lara Angus, Communications Officer, Town of Stettler.
For further information on the County and Town of Stettler 2021 election process, visit:
County of Stettler https://www.stettlercounty.ca/197/Running-For-Council
Doreen Nixon, Returning Officer, County of Stettler ph 587-799-1132 email ro@stettlercounty.ca
Town of Stettler http://www.stettler.net/admin/contentx/default.cfm?PageId=17194
Graham Scott, Returning Officer, Town of Stettler ph 403-742-8305.
The Government of Alberta has an information package for candidates intending to run available at https://open.alberta.ca/publications/candidates-guide-running-for-municipal-office-in-alberta
Watch for future updates on the 2021 Municipal Election during the coming months.
Jody Craig, Reporter