Decisions and indecision: Some voters overwhelmed by range of ballot box issues

Some Edmonton voters felt unprepared for the hodgepodge of questions — ranging from who should represent them in the Senate's red chamber to how the clocks in Alberta should be set — that met them at the ballot box on Monday.

"I was definitely overwhelmed," said Sara Klapstein as she left a polling station at Father Michael Troy Catholic Junior High School in south Edmonton. 

"Some of them sort of threw me. I wasn't prepared to vote on some of the questions and some of the options so I did what I could and left the others blank." 

This municipal election includes the usual ballots for mayor, city councillor and school board trustees but also includes a chance to pick Alberta Senate nominees and weigh in on two referendum questions — one on equalization, the other on daylight saving time — put forward by the province 

Klapstein said she would have liked to have seen the municipal vote focus solely on city council. She said the number of questions was overwhelming, even after doing her research. 

"I think the ballots this year were pretty extensive, too excessive I would say," she said. "There were a lot of things on there I just didn't think we should be voting on. Daylight savings time, I feel like we could be voting on that at a different time. But it is what it is." 

Klapstein plans to watch election results on Monday evening and is keenly interested in who will replace Don Iveson as mayor.