Official results for the Okotoks 2025 Municipal Election were confirmed at noon on Friday, October 24, 2025. As required by the Local Authorities Election Act, Returning Officer, Catharine Duplessis, submitted official election results to Alberta Municipal Affairs. These updates are part of completing the final step in the legislated election process.
The Town is pleased to welcome Mayor Tanya Thorn and Councillors Stefan Dykema, Oliver Hallmark, Gord Lang, Ryan Nix, Carrie Penner, and Michelle Walther to the 2025–2029 Council. They will be sworn in on Monday, October 27 at 7 p.m., and everyone is invited to watch the ceremony live at okotoks.ca/councilmeeting.
Thank you to all the election workers who dedicated their time and effort to support this year’s municipal election. For the first time in many years, votes were hand-counted. This was a significant undertaking that involved nearly 80 election workers across three voting sites. Their many hours of preparation and coordination over three advance voting days and election day contributed to a smooth experience for voters and allowed results to be delivered in under 10 hours after the polls closed.
Of the 22,859 eligible voters, 7,243 residents cast their ballots, representing a 31.69 per cent voter turnout. For more details, visit the Okotoks newsroom
About the Process
The Town is committed to running a transparent election process, following all legislated requirements every step of the way. On election night, scrutineers and candidates were invited to observe the vote count at all three voting locations. Election officers explained the hand-counting process as ballots were tallied, a transparent approach that strengthened the election’s integrity and added an extra layer of accountability.
For hand-counting, the Town used the Kangaroo Board Method, a proven way to handle multi-candidate ballots efficiently. This method was also adopted by many other municipalities across the province for this election. A demonstration of the method can be watched here
- Counting started with Councillor ballots (the most complex), then moved to Mayoral ballots before finishing with the Foothills Ward 4 Trustee ballots.
- Ballots were counted at each of the three voting locations.
- All advanced ballots were counted at the Viking Rentals Centre, which is where advance voting took place and where the ballots were securely stored prior to election day.
- The Kangaroo Board allowed election workers to count 25 ballots at one time.
- Once complete, results from each location were sent to the Returning Officer to be compiled.
- The unofficial results were posted simultaneously at the Viking Rentals Centre and online at okotoks.ca/2025-election-results at 5:17 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 2025.
Sincere appreciation goes out to everyone who made this election possible, from the election team to the residents who took the time to vote. Your participation strengthens our local democracy and helps shape the future of our community.
To learn more about the election and how the process works, visit okotoks.ca/election.