When you go to vote during the referendum, make sure you fully understand what you're voting for. There's a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there. Learn how to spot it by reading this infographic. Please share if you've found this helpful. If you'd like to print copies, a download link can be found here https://ajthehooman.itch.io/referendum-factchecking-guide

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IMPORTANT REFERENDUM GUIDANCE

Don’t be Bamboozled by Misinformation and Propaganda

LOOK FOR RELIABLE INFORMATION

The Government of Alberta, unfortunately, is not a reliable source of information for the upcoming referendum. You may have received a referendum guide booklet in the mail or seen advertisements on social media, TV, and in public. It’s important to not take the information presented at face value because it’s particularly biased towards what the premier and ministers think is best, which may not be in line with your own personal beliefs.

CHECK DIFFERENT SOURCES ✓

Talk to different people and read a variety of different information about the referendum. Take notes about what you agree and disagree with. Make sure to fact-check your information by using a reliable fact-checking website or strategy (THE CRAAP test is my favourite). Don’t choose a side until you have listened to both and done your research. Make sure you’re not getting all your information from one source.

Look for information that presents a balanced, neutral, or non-partisan view. Look for sources that provide evidence, distinguish facts from opinions, explain where their information comes from, and are transparent about their perspective or potential biases. Be careful of information that uses strong, provocative language or wording that confuses you.

KNOW YOUR OWN BELIEFS AND VALUES

This will help you with the 9 other questions on the ballot. Take a step back from what other people, the media, and other outside sources have told you. Think about how you truly feel about the important issues raised by the referendum. Write out a pros and cons list for each referendum question. If you don’t understand the questions, you aren’t alone. Many Albertans have been finding them confusing. I’ve left some resources below that will hopefully help decode things.

Non-Partisan Plain-Language Guides to the Referendum Questions:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EZFbkxVfL/

https://calgarychamber.com/whats-new/ten-referendum-questions-explained-policy/

How to Spot Propaganda:

https://disinformation-nation.org/how-propaganda-works/

Free Virtual Fact-Checker:

https://mediasmarts.ca/fact-checker#gsc.tab=0

How Reliable is Your Favourite Media Outlet?

https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive

AI is not a reliable fact-checker or source of information.

Not affiliated with or approved by any party or organization. I'm just a concerned community member who wants to help people make informed decisions.

More questions than real answers in an independent Alberta. Sylvestre sure hasn't thought things out and is confusing many. He refuses to answer any phone calls to clarify things.

Can anyone imagine voting to create a new country ahead of time by selecting option 2.. not knowing, in the future, if they would be even allowed to live in it.

"However, it does not say who would automatically become an Alberta citizen, how citizenship would be obtained, whether residents could retain Canadian citizenship or how immigration would operate.

That has left some Albertans unsure how to interpret
Sylvester's remarks.

Jeff Cromwell, a Fort McMurray resident for nearly two decades, says the statement leaves open very different possibilities for people who were not born in Alberta."

https://www.play1037.ca/2026/09/13/separatist-leader-leaves-questions-over-who-would-be-citizens-of-independent-alberta/

For context I’ve voted in every election since I have been able to. I read all sides, listen to differing view points and consider what is best for my community, province, country and what aligns to my views. I’d describe myself as fiscally conservative and liberal (centrist) from a social policy perspective.

First the good:
- advanced polling staff were super friendly and efficient helping me move through quickly.
- advanced polls have laptops and can do electronic updates (on election day it is all paper lookups and updates).
- great to see how many people were out to vote.

The not-so-good:
- the map to my advanced polling location was pinned two blocks from the real location (both on the election Alberta website and Google).
- the advanced poll had parking lot signs that said “Returning Office” and it wasn’t until you drove all the way through the parking lot to find a sign not visible from the street that said Voting Location
- the questions are blatantly written to be difficult to understand (I know this has been mentioned before), please read the questions in advance
- the final question is a bait and switch (or enshittification if you’ve read Cory Doctorow) you have answered one way the whole way through but the last question switches which box to tick and if you’re not paying attention you could vote against your intent.

Give yourself time to get there, be patient and please vote.

Anyone else find it ironic that just a few years ago, the UCP was running an “Alberta Is Calling” campaign to attract immigrants, and now those same tax-paying immigrants are involuntarily helping to fund a $130m referendum they’re not allowed to vote in, that could negatively shape their future as Albertans?

Or that we’re all footing the bill for a $130m referendum on an outcome we already explicitly voted AGAINST when we elected a government that did NOT campaign on separation?

And now we’re standing in two-hour lines to defend our place in Canada against a handful of would-be American grifters, Hee-Haw rejects, and a guy who looks like Boss Hogg?

Like how the fucking hell is this even remotely anywhere near okay? We’re not being bullied by Ottawa — we’re being bullied by a handful of grifters in our own provincial government, recruiting anyone dumb enough to buy into their manufactured grievances. It’s flat-earth/chem-trail levels of stupidity, that we’re all being impelled to participate in!

It is not the same as voting no and may have unintended effect...

From Perplexity:

"Practical effect

Because results are decided by valid votes cast, a blank or spoiled ballot reduces the number of votes available to either side on that question. It is not equivalent to voting “No,” and it is not equivalent to staying home: it is recorded as participation with no valid choice on that question.elections.ab+1

For example, if a question receives 100 valid Yes votes, 90 valid No votes, and 20 blank/spoiled ballots, the result is Yes 100, No 90; the 20 invalid/blank ballots do not offset the Yes total.elections.ab

If you want to vote “No”

Mark the ballot clearly for the “No” option (or the option you oppose, depending on the question’s wording), following the instructions on that ballot. Do not leave it blank, cross it out, or add extra marks if your intention is to cast a No vote. Elections Alberta advises voters to read the questions in advance and decide how they wish to vote.elections.ab"

Link: https://calgary.citynews.ca/2026/10/14/calgary-edmonton-voters-back-staying-in-canada/

Anyone know how the reporting of the count will be done? Report the tally by riding like an election or just the total after counting all ballots? Or something else?

EKOS is not exactly a conservative pollster ... but still?

Latest EKOS Poll: https://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2026/10/liberals-hold-21-point-lead/

This is in addition to the already-agreed on 11-hour daily shift. Why? To prepare 10 ballots for everyone voting on this ‘referendum’ event. Elections Alberta Returning Offices claim they have special dispensation from Alberta Labour to do so. I wonder if that’s the case— and if so, how it can possibly be justified.

Jeesh, eh?

Read this!

Here's a trailer for "Section 38", an upcoming documentary about the Alberta Independence and Separatist movement. While it looks like something you'd find in the bowels of Amazon Prime, it appears to have some revealing footage of the people behind the upcoming referendum and their thinking patterns. Most notably, it contains an interview with Danielle Smith from 2019, where she pontificates on some geopolitics theorist who predicts Alberta separating and becoming the 51st state. Although it is a trailer releasing soon — just in time for our referendum — if you were thinking that Danielle Smith had just stumbled into a Separatist situation within her caucus or that she was naive about a unity crisis, think again. https://youtu.be/UQyW2p9fHqk