Elections Alberta Launches Formal Social Media Policy Review Following Election Day Twitter Dispute

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Elections Alberta says it has launched a formal review of activities on its social media accounts after someone managing its Twitter profile on Election Day had a sarcastic argument with users for sharing photos of a ballot online.

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In a statement Tuesday, Acting Deputy Director of Elections Pamela Renwick said the review is being conducted internally by Election Alberta’s enforcement and enforcement unit, which is the same unit that investigates complaints as directed by the election commissioner.

” The review will analyze the conduct of our staff on our social media platforms and the policies and processes that must be followed for social media engagement and message approval, ”he said.

“As the review includes personnel matters, those results will not be made public. However, after review, we will determine if there are results that we can share publicly without violating confidentiality. “

the spat It began on Monday when former MLA conservative Derek Fildebrandt posted a photo of his ballot voting in favor of the referendum on removing the equalization principle from the Constitution.

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Users pointed out that posting a photo of a ballot is illegal, referencing a 2019 tweet from the Elections Alberta account that warned that posting photos is a crime.

“Who would have expected a two-year tweet to apply the same to this event?” the Elections Alberta account replied.

In a subsequent exchange, this time with University of Alberta economist Andrew Leach, who accused Elections Alberta of providing false information on Twitter, someone behind the account appeared to suggest that it was not Elections Alberta’s responsibility to enforce the rules of a municipal election.

“I’m sure you know very well the federalist state, the three levels of government and how extra veres (sic) and intra veres (sic) powers are assigned, much as an old tweet has no value compared to an updated one. Go ahead Andrew, ”the account tweeted.

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Renwick confirmed that provincial elections, like the 2019 one, and municipal elections like Monday’s, are covered by different laws, but both prohibit posting photos of the ballots.

In the case of municipal elections, he said, the responsibility for enforcing the rule rests with the local authority.

Elections Alberta, an independent and non-partisan office of the legislature, initially apologized for the tweets, posting on Twitter that “Albertans have the right to expect Elections Alberta to always remain fair and respectful in the electoral process” and said that The staff member in question had been removed from their social media accounts. The staff member was not named.

The tweets in question have since been deleted.

“Elections Alberta is committed to rebuilding Albertans’ trust in the integrity of our office,” Elections Alberta tweeted.

Renwick said Elections Alberta does not have a deadline for when the review will be completed, but that it has already begun.

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