2025 Edmonton Elections: informing your decision
In Edmonton–and other places in Alberta–you get to vote for mayors, councillors and school trustees on Monday October 20! Are you ready?
Remember:
VOTE! It’s easy and your voice matters!
Our first blog of this series covered:
who can vote,
the wards in the city,
where you vote,
what identification you can use for voting, and
why voting is important.
In this post, we cover:
school trustees
more info on identification needed to vote
where to find the list of candidates
some ideas and steps you can take to help you determine which candidate is best for you
What about school trustees?
Although the mayor and councillors tend to get the most attention by voters, you also have the opportunity and responsibility to vote for school trustees.
The Alberta School Boards Association states that school trustees carry multiple responsibilities such as:
represent the interests of parents, students and community members in the education system and
influence many aspects of children’s education, from curriculum implementation to the allocation of resources.
Learn more here and here. You can choose whether you want to vote for either public school board or catholic school board trustees, but not both.
Your Public School Board ward can be found here, and
your Catholic School Board ward here
Why does voting for school trustees matter for gender equity?
School trustees make financial plans and advocate for the educational priorities that reflect the ward’s desires. Your vote helps bring strong voices that support the needs of the education system to multiple government levels and the community.
Plus, your choice supports the women and gender-diverse people that make up the vast majority of the educational system employees.
While school boards do not have full control over policies regarding gender identity policy, trustees can work within the system to provide gender diverse groups with ongoing opportunities to engage with the school, one another and the community.
Identification for Voting
We asked Edmonton Elections “What if someone doesn’t have government-issued photo ID or other authorized identification for name and address?”
Good news: you can ask someone else to vouch for you at the voting station. That person will need to:
produce acceptable identification,
validate the elector’s identity and address
and vouch for the person by making a statement at the voting station.
So remember, you don’t need to have registered in advance and you don’t need to have photo identification to vote. Of course, it is faster if you are registered so give yourself extra time and patience to go through a few more steps at the time.
Who are the candidates?
Now we get to the main question, deciding on the person that you’d like to represent you!
The list of mayor, councillor and trustee candidates can be found here.
Candidates can be added to the list until September 22, so a good idea will be to check back right after that to ensure you are aware of the full list.
Which candidates are best for me?
This will involve some homework – but it really is democracy in action, and a great way to learn about the people running. Unfortunately, we don’t have a one stop shop for what each candidate wants to achieve or their priorities.
You do have many options to find out more about those running to represent you as mayor, councillor, and school trustee:
They will come talk to you! This is the easiest option, and it helps if you have some questions already in mind. Think about what you would like in your city, and maybe write some notes for when candidates or their teams stop by your home.
Read the materials left in your mailbox. Many candidates print out flyers stating their priorities that they drop off. It might be hidden amidst other advertising mail, but as we have said before – your vote matters! Take a few minutes to scan through their platforms and ideas.
Some candidates use online communication rather than print materials. Online searching is often the easiest way to find these, and you can ask for help at your public library or through your community league. When available, you can also find the candidates’ websites and social media links on the City’s Candidates List page. You can also find a curation of candidates’ online info curated by Troy Pavlek.
Speaking of libraries, the Edmonton Public Library website includes information on voting, and they will have a forum for mayoral candidates on October 9 at 6:00 p.m. in their downtown location. Register to attend in person or online!
A fantastic source of election information is https://edmonton.taproot.vote/2025, hosted by Taproot, a local news site. Taproot encouraged people across the city to send in questions for candidates and they are now asking the candidates to respond to some of the most popular questions. Taproot will then provide a tool for you to see how different candidates align with your responses to the same questions. So check the site for this tool plus news, events and additional information on the 2025 municipal election
We urge you to participate in the upcoming Edmonton municipal elections on October 20, 2025. Remember, your vote matters! It is key to shaping your community!
