Braid: No fears, says Smith, Alberta won’t have a crooked election

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The craziest concept in our politics is the assumption that your enemy can solely win by dishonest.

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It is alive and nicely in Alberta on the eve of this election.

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In a widely-noticed publish this week, one man mentioned on Twitter: “If for some motive they declare Notley received the election, Alberta can be in civil battle.

“The one method they win is by dishonest.

“We are going to soar in our vehicles and we’ll hunt them down and maintain them accountable.”

The account shortly disappeared, however the harmful delusion is on the market.

It’s the poisonous Donald Trump fantasy that any victory by a political opponent is proof of fraud and subsequently unlawful.

A reporter requested Smith about this Friday, noting that a few of her supporters doubt the integrity of vote counting machines.

He requested Smith if she would settle for the outcomes of Monday’s election.

Smith mentioned: “I’ve answered earlier than and I’ll reply once more — sure.

“I would like folks to believe within the early voting choice.

“One factor I’d say to consolation folks is that once you go into the main polls . . . a paper poll goes into the machine.

“However we hold the paper ballots, so if there are shut races and there must be a recount, we now have the power to return and have a look at paper ballots.

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“I’ve confidence that the end result would be the actual one.”

That is the suitable reply from a frontrunner with lots to lose, or acquire, on Monday.

Nonetheless, there may be suspicion, particularly in conservative ranks.

Within the last weeks of the 2019 marketing campaign, UCP chief Jason Kenney was confronted with information that fraudulent emails had been used to vote within the management contest he received in 2017.

There was already an RCMP investigation. Right this moment, virtually precisely 4 years later, we nonetheless have not heard a phrase concerning the end result.

Kenney received the election and have become prime minister. However concern of fraud is deeply planted in conservative circles.

When Kenney confronted his management assessment final fall, heated controversy arose over the place the vote could be held and the way ballots could be dealt with.

The occasion has developed voting and counting programs as hermetic as safety across the Crown Jewels.

This was all of the enterprise of a political occasion, not a public basic election.

Guidelines for a provincial vote are set in stone. Elections Alberta programs are uniform throughout the province.

As Smith mentioned, Albertans will be assured their votes can be counted and the outcomes can be truthful.

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It is even bizarre to say it, however these are the occasions.

Who wins this loopy, scandal-ridden, indignant, emotional election?

Most indicators level to a VKP majority. Ballot after ballot reveals an general lead over Rachel Notley’s NDP.

“I feel we’ll all be stunned if the NDP wins,” mentioned Ian Giant, govt vice chairman of pollster Leger.

His newest outcomes for Postmedia present the UCP with 49 % of determined voters. The NDP has 46 %.

In Calgary, Leger has the UCP with 48 %, the NDP with 46 %.

The day earlier than, Marc Henry’s Assume HQ confirmed a special end result for Calgary – 49 per cent NDP, 43 per cent UCP.

It’s not the contradiction it appears.

Leger surveyed not solely town, but in addition surrounding municipal areas which can be largely conservative. ThinkHQ polled solely throughout the metropolis limits of Calgary, the place NDP help is greater.

Regardless of Calgary NDP energy, Marc Henry places the UCP likelihood of victory at about 75 per cent.

Nonetheless, the pollsters agree that there’s a path to victory for the NDP.

Notley’s campaigners say they should win 17 seats in Calgary and at the very least among the Conservative ridings that revolve across the metropolis of Edmonton.

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“The New Democrats can do it, however they really want to string the needle,” says Henry.

Jim Prentice, the previous PC premier, mentioned “math is difficult” for Notley in the course of the 2015 marketing campaign, which was received by the NDP.

He was speaking about tax factors, not election outcomes. However the late prime minister was proper in one other method.

With Conservatives united in a single occasion, the mathematics remains to be very tough for the NDP.

Don Braid’s column seems recurrently within the Herald

Twitter: @DonBraid